


Bus Ride to Nowhere

by mickeysupset



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 04:02:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2136273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mickeysupset/pseuds/mickeysupset
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ian and Mickey meet on a bus ride across the country.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. dare

**Author's Note:**

> So this got deleted somehow. I don't know what happened.  
> Anyways, here it is again. Enjoy!

“So why are you going to California?”

Twenty-two minutes. It was only twenty-two minutes into the two-day trip and Mickey Milkovich was already annoyed with the Greyhound bus that was carrying him across the country. He had been hoping the journey would go by quickly, quietly and with no interruptions. Mickey should have known that his wish would not come true as soon as he stepped on the bus and was met with a weird stale smell and the sound of a crying child. The trip only got worse each time the man sitting next to him shifted in his seat, which had been a total of thirty-seven times since they left the station. Not that Mickey had been counting.

“Oh come on, talk to me. I’m already bored.” The man huffed.

Mickey continued to stare out the window, refusing to acknowledge his seat companion. 

“I’m going to start fresh, you know? I just need a change of pace and a place to reboot my life. I have no idea what I am even going to do out there. No place to live, no job, barely enough cash. I kind of just opened a map, randomly pointed and now here I am.”

Fuck this kid talked fast. Mickey turned his head to glance at the chatterbox next to him and was met with red hair and green eyes. Fuck this kid was hot. The redhead pounced at the eye contact and quickly put his hand out for Mickey to shake.

“Hi, I’m Ian.”

Mickey simply looked at the hand before grumbling out his name in return.

“So Mick, why are you going to California?” Ian asked again, hoping to strike up a conversation.

Twenty-two seconds. Twenty-two seconds into the conversation before Ian was already giving him nicknames and trying to get to know him. Great.

“I hope you realize that I am going to keep talking to you for the next two days even if you don’t talk back. You might as well just talk to me.”

Mickey had a feeling that this kid meant that. “I guess I’m running away too.” He watched as Ian’s face lit up and split into a smile at the fact that Mickey had responded to his question. Mickey was sort of taken aback by how luminous Ian looked at that moment. Damn.

“Running away from what?”

The question snapped Mickey out of his trance. “None of your fucking business.”

Ian simply laughed at him. “Okay. We’re not there yet, that’s fine. I bet by the end of the trip you’ll tell me.”

Mickey turned back to look out the window and a silence fell over the two boys, but Ian wouldn’t let it stay awkward for long. “Do you have any siblings?”

“You really weren’t kidding when you said that you were going to talk the whole time, were you?” Mickey muttered. 

“I can stop if you want me to but do you really want to stare out the window the whole time? That’ll make it feel like you might as well be walking to California.”

He had a point there, so Mickey reluctantly turned back to Ian and answered his question. “Four. Three brothers and one sister.” His answer awarded him another smile. This kid really needed to stop doing that… or keep doing it. Mickey wasn’t really sure at this point. 

“See, was that so hard? I’m starting to believe that you actually know how to hold a conversation.” Ian smirked at Mickey. “I have three brothers too. Two sisters. Large family, you know how they do it in the Southside.”

“You’re Southside?” Mickey couldn’t help but ask. Ian looked and acted like the last person that would ever be seen around Mickey’s neighborhood.

“Born and raised. Why? You too?” Mickey nodded at Ian in confirmation. “What a small world.”

\------------

For the next couple of hours, the boys fell into the pattern of Ian asking questions, Mickey answering them in as little number of words as possible and then Ian talking Mickey’s ear off about anything and everything. By the end of the third hour, Mickey was finally starting to relax and open up while Ian was ready to spice things up, recommending a game of truth or dare.

“Truth or dare? Really? How fucking old are you, dude?” Mickey questioned.

“19. You scared, Milkovich?” 

At this, Mickey’s eyebrows shot up and he glared at Ian in response. “Bring it on, Gallagher. Dare.”

Mickey watched as the wheels turned in Ian’s head turned as he tried to come up with the perfect dare. “I dare you to… I dare you to...” Ian paused before his face lit up. “I dare you to stand up on your seat and yell PENIS for the whole bus to hear.”

Fuck this kid was an actual child, but Ian looked so proud of himself that Mickey didn’t want to disappoint. As he started to stand up on his seat, Mickey noticed that the other passengers on the bus were either preoccupied or asleep. Well they were about to get a show. 

“PEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNIS”

As soon as the last “S” left his mouth, Mickey threw himself back down in his seat, hoping that no one noticed that he was the one who had done it. Unfortunately, Ian’s laughter brought the unwanted attention and glares to their row of seats. 

“Oh my god, fuck. That was so stupid yet so great. I should have taken a video.” Ian wheezed through his laughter. “You should have seen the old lady about four rows up. I swear she about jumped out of her seat. We should stop now while we’re ahead. You can’t top that.”

“Fuck that. Truth or dare?”

The game went on like that for a while with the dares getting more and more childish and the boys receiving more and more glares. Mickey completed a dare by successfully throwing twenty raisins into the hair of the woman two seats in front of him before turning to Ian. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” Ian answered back, marking the first time a “truth” was brought into the game.

“Who’s scared now? Fine. Ummm… Tell the story of when you fucked for the first time.” 

Mickey watched as Ian’s eyes got big before he quickly averted them away from the brunette. “Never mind, I choose dare.” 

His interest peaked; Mickey couldn’t help but prod further into the truth. “Come on man. You can tell me. I won’t tell anyone.” Mickey mocked.

“Jeez. Now all of a sudden you are all open to talk to me.” Ian snapped back.

“Whoa. Chill out there, Firecrotch. It can’t be that bad.” Ian showed no sign of talking again. “How old were you? What was her name at least?”

“His name.”

Mickey’s eyes shot up to look at Ian, who looked nervous. 

“Oh…”

“Fuck.” Ian muttered. “I’m going to go to the bathroom.” He darted out of his seat and ran down the aisle before Mickey could say anything else. 

\------------

Fuck. 

One day and nineteen hours left.


	2. bathroom

With each minute that passed since Ian had run off to the bathroom (eight, not that he was counting), Mickey grew more and more restless in his seat and let his mind wander.

Growing up, Mickey had always known that he was different from the other male Milkoviches in his family. From an outsider’s perspective, they were all the same though. Loud, destructive, mean, dirty, the list goes on. 

It was on the inside that Mickey knew that he was different. He never looked at girls the same way his brothers did nor did he never feel the urge to fuck them. It took finding a male underwear catalog in his neighbor’s garbage can for Mickey to realize why he was different. 

He hid what he was, knowing how his father felt about “fags.” At 14, he allowed his brothers to hook him up with a female friend of theirs. He kept up the façade of being straight for years, fucking random girls though he got no satisfaction out of it at all. 

Mickey had sex with a guy for the first time at 16. A friend of Tony’s stumbled into the bathroom, only to find Mickey jerking one out to a male porn magazine. He ended up fucking Mickey against the sink, leaving right afterwards without a word. Mickey finally felt as though something had shifted into place. 

So Ian Gallagher being gay didn’t bother Mickey. In fact, it made him feel less creepy about the knot that formed in his stomach every time Ian smiled at him. Too bad Ian seemed to think that he would be bothered by it.

\--------------------

“Hey.”

The greeting and the large body sliding back into the sat next to him shook Mickey out of his trance. He looked over at Ian as an awkward silence fell between them.

“I’m sorry that I just took off like that. Look, if this is going to be an issue then…”

“What? No.” Mickey quickly threw out. “I don’t care, man.”

Ian still looked a little unsure. “Really? It’s just that I know how some people can be about this. I saw a few empty seats on my way to the bathroom. I can always move.”

“Listen Ian, I don’t give a shit.” Mickey said forcefully. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Ian replied, still seeming a little unsure about the situation.

Another awkward silence fell over the boys, as each didn’t know what to say to the other next. 

“So… truth or dare?” 

Mickey couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him at Ian’s question, which in turn caused Ian to smile back at him. “Really? We’re going to try that again? Besides, you never finished your truth.”

“Oh come on, dude. I think I gave you enough of the truth.”

Mickey simply stared back at Ian.

“Fine. I was 14, his name was Roger and it was in the locker room after school one day. Now tell me your story.”

Mickey scoffed at Ian. “No. I choose dare.”

“I dare you to tell me your virginity story.” Mickey glared as Ian preened at the dare.

“That’s fucking cheating, Gallagher.”

Ian simply raised his eyebrows and smirked at Mickey, trying to egg him on.

Mickey wasn’t sure if he wanted to kiss or smack that look off Ian’s face. He chose instead to roll his eyes at the idiot sitting next to him before answering his question. “14. Alice. My bedroom.” He thought he saw disappointment flash across Ian’s face before it quickly disappeared. 

Huh. 

\--------------------

“Ladies and Gentleman: We have arrived at our pit stop. Passengers are allowed to exit the to stretch their legs, buy food or do whatever.”

The combination of the announcement over the PA system and Ian gently poking him on his side caused Mickey to awake from a nap that he didn’t even remember taking. Opening his eyes, Mickey noticed two things, one: he had fallen asleep slumped against Ian with his head on the redhead’s shoulder and two: they were the only people left on the bus. 

Turning back to his companion, Mickey took in just how close he was to Ian’s face. Ian was looking down at Mickey with a look in his eye, a look so soft that Mickey felt his insides twist. Mickey watched as Ian glanced down at his lips before moving back up to meet Mickey’s eyes. If they both just moved a little bit closer, their lips could touch.

“Ummm… Excuse me?”

The strange voice caused the boys to jump apart from each other, tearing the both of them out of their little bubble. 

“I hate to break up this love session, but are you two going to get off the bus any time soon?” Mickey and Ian both turned to look at the bus driver asking the question. “Legally, I’m not allowed to leave the bus if there are people still on it… so please get off. You only have about 30 minutes of free time left.”

Mickey quickly pulled away from Ian, shot up out of his seat and climbed over to get to the aisle. “Sorry,” He mumbled out and at this point he was unsure if he was talking to the driver or Ian. It didn’t really matter.

\--------------------

“Is this seat taken?”

Mickey grunted without bothering to look up from his Big Mac, knowing that Ian was going to sit down not matter what the answer was. Sure enough, Ian plopped down in the seat across from him and opened up his own McDonald’s bag, pulling out his box of chicken nuggets. 

“So… you were totally going to kiss me back on the bus, weren’t you?”

It was like the fuckhead waited to ask his question till as soon as Mickey took a giant sip from his Dr. Pepper. Ian leaned over and started hitting Mickey on the back, hoping to help the brunette out as he started choking on his drink.

“How the fuck can you just ask that?” Mickey stuttered out between his coughing fit. 

“Well that’s what was going to happen, right?” Ian put out his giant green puppy dog eyes and set them on Mickey.

“Maybe… I don’t know. Stop staring at me like that.” The older boy snapped back. 

Ian ignored his tone and pressed on. “I knew there had to be a reason that a Southside boy would be okay with me being gay." Ian paused. "If you had kissed me, I wouldn’t have minded. In fact, I probably would have loved it.” Ian said innocently before casually going back to the food in front of him. 

“Really?”

Fuck. Did that really slip out? Mortified, Mickey focused in on his fries, praying that a car would come flying through the glass window to take Mickey out of his misery.

“Really.”

Mickey’s eyes shot up to look at Ian. His usually bright green eyes had darkened considerably and were honed in on him. Mickey shifted in his seat as felt movement in his jeans and saw Ian smirk at his obvious discomfort. 

“Want to find a bathroom to make-out in?”

Mickey couldn’t throw away his food fast enough.

\--------------------

It had to say something about Mickey Milkovich that the first time he fucked a dude and the first time he made out with a guy both happened in a bathroom. What exactly it said? He didn’t really care at this point as Ian pressed him up against the door of the gas station bathroom and shoved his tongue down Mickey’s throat. He moaned as Ian dragged his lower teeth over his bottom lip and ran his long fingers throw his black hair. 

Fuck this kid could kiss. Mickey wrapped his arms around Ian’s waist and pulled him closer, pushing up his hips to grind against the taller man’s in the process. Both boys let out a groan as they each felt the other’s hardness in their pants, which only made them press closer to each other. 

“Fuck.” Mickey stuttered out as Ian tore his lips away from Mickey’s, only to move them down the brunette’s neck. He quickly found the weak spot right on Mickey’s pulse point, sucking and licking to leave a mark. Hoping to level the playing field, Mickey’s brain functioned enough to allow him to move his hands from Ian’s waist down to the zipper of his pants. Quickly undoing the redhead’s jeans, Mickey shoved a hand down his pants, grabbing onto Ian’s shaft.

“Jesus Christ, Mick.” Ian pulled his lips away from Mickey’s neck to lean his forehead against the shorter man’s shoulder, trying to get a grip on reality and remain in control of his senses. 

Mickey simply laughed as he continued to slowly pump his hand up and down. After a few more pumps, he moved his thumb up to glide over the slit of Ian’s dick before moving his hand back down again at a quicker pace. Ian gasped before ripping his head off Mickey’s shoulder and lunging towards Mickey’s lips, kissing him fiercely.

Both were so completely caught up in their respective tasks that they did not hear the jiggle of the doorknob. It took the person on the other side banging on the door for Mickey and Ian to come to their senses and somewhat pull away from each other.  
“I don’t know who is in there but if you are on the Greyhound Bus to San Diego, you better get out of there and get on the bus. We will leave without you.”

Mickey started to pull out of Ian’s pants before Ian’s hand shot down and grabbed on to Mickey’s wrist. “No.” Ian panted out through short breaths. “You can’t leave me life this.” 

Mickey looked up at the pleading ginger, giving his dick one last squeeze before removing his hand from Ian’s pants. “Man, I’m not going to get stuck in some small as fuck town with none of my stuff. Besides, it’s not like I am doing much better than you are right now.” He started to pull Ian in for a final kiss before another banging on the door caused them break apart yet again.

“LET’S GO.”

Mickey and Ian both straightened themselves out before unlocking the bathroom door and opening it only to see their bus driver standing on the other side.

“I should have known that it was you two. Finally do something about that sexual tension?” The man smirked as he turned around and started to make his way towards the exit.

Mickey couldn’t help but gape at the driver before he started to follow him back to the bus. He only made it two steps before he was yanked back and thrown up against the wall next to the bathroom. Before Mickey could say anything, Ian leaned forward and planted a long, languid kiss on Mickey’s lips. Just as Mickey started to get into it, Ian pulled back and started to walk away.

“Maybe we should see if the bathroom on the bus can fit two.” Ian yelled over his shoulder before sending Mickey a wink. 

Mickey could only stare at him in shock before shaking his head and following the idiot back to the Greyhound.

\--------------------

Fuck.

One day and fifteen hours left.


	3. scared

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay the first two chapters are reposts from the previously deleted version. from this chapter on, it's all new. 
> 
> read, tell me your thoughts and enjoy!

When Ian Gallagher made the decision to leave Chicago, he didn’t go through his usual routine. He didn’t plan years ahead like he did for West Point nor did he ask for Fiona or Lip’s advice like he normally might of done in the past. This time around, he didn’t really do anything. Instead, Ian found an old map in Debbie’s room, closed his eyes and pointed. 

All he felt was excitement when he opened his eyes to see his finger pressed on San Diego, California. Excitement to get out of Illinois for the first time ever, excitement to leave the oppressive Southside, and excitement to get away from it all and just start new. He gave his siblings just enough time to attempt to talk him out of it before he booked his one way ticket and left. 

Since there was no plan, Ian could have never seen Mickey Milkovich coming. It’s not like he set out to sit next to an attractive guy on the bus, it just happened and Ian could not complain.  
It was obvious from the moment Ian sat down that the man, hunched over and curled up against the window, did not want to be messed with. Everything about the small brunette screamed fuck off, but Ian paid no attention to the signals. He never did because Ian Gallagher knew what he wanted and he went for it. 

Mickey was a tough nut to crack, but Ian was eventually able to break through and get him to talk. Mickey was quiet and grumpy but that only made Ian like him more. There was something about Mickey Milkovich that stood out to him and that made Ian want to explore the older boy some more. 

He should have known that truth or dare would only lead to trouble, but Ian wasn’t really thinking. He was too caught up in keeping this thing with Mickey going that he was desperate to make it enjoyable. It had been all fun and games until Ian said truth and Mickey asked him how he lost his virginity. Forgive Ian but telling a known Southside kid that he had lost his virginity to a guy while pressed up against a locker in the high school was terrifying. 

To say that Mickey’s response to Ian’s confession was confusing would be an understatement. Mickey genuinely seemed okay with it all and moved on like nothing had happened. 

To say that Ian felt disappointed after listening to Mickey talk about losing his virginity to a girl would also be an understatement. He couldn’t even explain it. After Mickey’s acceptance, Ian crazily had begun to wonder if maybe Mickey was like him, a rare breed of Southside gay. Then again, maybe he had been imagining the look on Mickey’s face every time Ian smiled at him. 

It wasn’t until Mickey woke up from his nap that Ian knew that he hadn’t imagined anything. The bus had come to a stop and everyone else had exited about five minutes prior, but there was no way in hell Ian was going to give up the chance to have Mickey rest his head on his shoulder. Ian watched as Mickey stirred awake, gathering a hold on his surroundings before turning his head towards Ian. Ian swore that something soft flashed in Mickey’s eyes before he focused in on Ian’s lips. This was it. 

Fuck the bus driver. 

Ian’s heart sank as Mickey scrambled out of his seat, passed Ian and the bus driver before racing off the bus. Ian quickly followed him, hoping to see if Mickey was actually going to kiss him. Rushing into the McDonald’s, he saw Mickey waiting in line, looking around nervously and shifting his weight from side to side. Ian figured that he should take pity on the smaller boy and got in line a couple of people behind him, allowing Mickey the space and time to process what had almost just happened. 

Ian’s pity didn’t last as he quickly cornered Mickey and confronted him about the almost kiss. It didn’t take Ian long to figure out that Mickey was just as into Ian as Ian was to him. He knew that it would be a hit or a miss when he propositioned Mickey so he was genuinely happy when he saw the brunette follow him into the gas station bathroom. 

\------------

“So, what was that?”

Ian watched as Mickey’s eyebrows shot up and he looked away from the passing trees to glare at Ian.

“Are you really trying to have “the talk” with me right now?”

“Well I’m sorry. It’s not every day I meet a guy on a bus and then get half a handjob from him in the bathroom of a McDonald’s.” Ian could have sworn he saw a blush work its way across Mickey’s cheeks before he quickly turned away from Ian to look back out the window. “Anyways, you can’t act like it didn’t happen, seeing as you started it and all.” Ian knew that he was only saying this to bait Mickey back into talking to him. 

Fortunately, it worked. Mickey’s eyes doubled in size as he whipped his head back around to look at the redhead. “How the fuck did I start all of this? You were the one who started talking to me.”

“You talked back.”

“Because you forced me to.”

“You could have ignored me.”

“You kept smiling at me!” Ian felt his face split into a giant grin as another blush worked it’s way across Mickey’s face at the confession. Mickey tried to save himself. “Have you ever listened to yourself talk, Gallagher? You don’t shut up.”

“Does my smile drive you wild, Mick?” Ian asked as Mickey’s face flushed some more. It was almost too easy. “Anyways, you answered all of my questions.”

“You started truth or dare.” Mickey shot back, hoping to take back the advantage. 

“You asked me about losing my virginity.”

“You told me you were gay.”

“You tried to kiss me.”

“You asked me to make out with you in the bathroom.” By this point, both boys were glaring at each other, unable to let the other one win this little game.

“You did make out with me AND you gave me a handjob.”

“Yeah well, you told me that we could try to do it again in the bathroom on the bus.”

At this, Ian broke the staring contest that he and Mickey had unwittingly fallen into and smirked at him. “Are you ready to try? You did kind of leave me hanging back there, Mick.”

Mickey seemed to freeze and could only stare back at Ian. “Mickey? Are you alright? It’s okay to be nervous.”

“Fuck off, I ain’t nervous.” came Mickey’s frustrated automatic response, causing Ian to roll his eyes. 

“Okie dokie then. Can you explain to me why thirty minutes you were okay with shoving your hand down my pants and your tongue down my throat but now all of a sudden you can’t seem to function?” Ian huffed back at him, growing equally as frustrated. “What is it? Now that you’ve had time to stop and think, you realize what a mistake this is?”

Ian had thought that the awkward silences between them had ended over one make out session ago but apparently he was wrong. All he could do was watch as Mickey closed up next to him before he gave up on attempting anymore conversation. 

Five minutes later, Mickey finally answered him. “I don’t do this, alright? I’ve never…” Mickey said quietly before pausing, seemingly trying to gather his thoughts. “I’ve known that I liked dick for a long time, but I don’t do this shit.” He waved a hand back a forth between him and Ian as he trailed off.

“You’ve never had sex with another guy before?” Ian guessed, confused about what Mickey was talking about. “I sure couldn’t tell by your performance in the bath…”  
“Fuck, could you lower your voice? I’m pretty sure the lady in the front row heard you.” Mickey barked, cutting Ian off. 

“Mickey, I’m practically whispering so unless you know sign language then this is the quietest I am going to get.” Ian whispered in response. 

“Jesus Christ, you are annoying.”

“You’ve known me for 8 hours. You haven’t even seen annoying yet.” 

“Oh great, there’s more to come.” With this, Mickey leaned back in his seat and turned to face the window before Ian’s hand shot out and grabbed his chin.

“No, no more looking out the window. Stop stalling and answer my damn question. Have you ever been with another guy before?”

Mickey allowed Ian to keep his hand on his chin as he sighed and finally answered the question. “Of course I have, fuckhead. I’ve just never done this.” He once again gestured between himself and Ian.

“I have no idea what this,” Ian copied Mickey’s hand gesture, waving his own hand back a forth between them, “means!”

Mickey’s answer finally came exploding out of him. “I’ve don’t do this. I can’t do this. The openness and the talking and the fucking getting to each other and the kissing and the handjobs and the talking again afterwards. I’m used hiding everything, fucking and then leaving. No talking, no kissing, no time for anything. Just quick and dirty.” Mickey whispered to Ian almost desperately. 

Suddenly everything clicked for Ian. He felt almost stupid for not picking up on it before. He should have known from Mickey’s skittishness that he was uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Ian was somewhat narrow minded. He took Mickey’s acceptance of him being gay and willingness to kiss him as the go ahead to pretty much do whatever he wanted. He didn’t even stop to think about what could possibly be going on in Mickey’s head. 

“Mickey, what are you running away from?”

The question seemed to confuse Mickey more than anything else that had happened between them. “What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

“Mickey.” 

Ian half expected Mickey to turn away from him once again, so he was shocked when Mickey’s whole body deflated, almost as he was defeated. 

“It has always been just one fuck here and there, enough to scratch the itch. I’d always been so careful but then my dad caught me a couple of weeks ago.” Mickey finally whispered, unwilling to meet Ian’s eyes. “I still don’t even know how it happened. Anyways, I was able to get away from him before he could beat me too bad.” Ian leaned forward and grabbed Mickey’s hand. He felt Mickey tense before relaxing into the gesture. “I kind of bounced from house to house trying to find someplace to stay until I saved up enough money for a bus ticket.” Mickey finished off his story and pivoted to once again lean his head against the window. 

All Ian could really do was sit there and stare at Mickey. He was afraid that if he said anything, it would scare the Milkovich boy off. At the same time, he was afraid that if he continued to sit there and stare, it would also scare Mickey off. In the end, he simply squeezed Mickey’s hand. 

A moment later, he felt Mickey squeeze his hand back. 

\------------

This time around, it was Ian waking up with his head on Mickey’s shoulder. The first thing that he noticed was that Mickey was still holding his hand. The second was that Mickey was wide awake next to him, staring down at their joined hands. 

“Hey.” Ian rasped out sleepily, startling Mickey in the process. Ian felt Mickey’s hand jerk back in response, but Ian held on tighter until Mickey once again relaxed. “How you doing?”

“I’m sorry for unloading all of that on you.” Mickey mumbled in response, still staring at his and Ian’s conjoined fingers. 

It’s okay, man. I kind of asked for it. It’s about time you starting talking as much as I do anyways.” 

Ian couldn’t help but grin at the small smile that came and went on Mickey’s face. 

“You don’t have to be afraid anymore, Mickey.”

“I’m not fucking afraid…” Mickey trailed off at the hard look on Ian’s face. 

“You were and that’s fine but you don’t have to be anymore. Your dad will never hurt you again. You are safe.” Ian persisted. “In fact, you are moving to about the gayest state in the country so I think you will be just fine.” Ian finished, nudging Mickey lightly with his elbow. 

This time the smile on Mickey’s face was bigger and stuck. Ian couldn’t help but think that Mickey looked almost beautiful like this. 

“I’m going to kiss you now if that’s okay.” When he saw no resistance on Mickey’s face, Ian leaned forward and firmly planted his lips on Mickey’s. 

The kiss was different from the ones that they had shared earlier. There was no sexual tension fizzing in the air (well not a lot of sexual tension). There was no frantic need. There was no shoving each other against doors trying to get the other off. The kiss was almost sweet, just a simple nipping at the lips. This kiss was a kiss of reassurance. Something to show to other that they were there and that it was all going to be alright. 

This kiss was perfect. 

When Mickey and Ian finally pulled away from each other, Ian couldn’t help the wicked smile that crossed his face. 

“So, are you ready to test out the bathroom?”

\------------

One day and thirteen hours left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ryansoreily.tumblr.com


	4. showers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first real attempt at smut so you are forewarned. It's also once again in Ian's POV.
> 
> read, enjoy, tell me what you think!

“Fuck.”

“Just move to the left a little bit.”’

“If I move anymore to the left then my fucking foot is going to be in the toilet.”

“Ouch! Watch it. The damn sink is digging into my back.”

“This isn’t working.”

“It makes you wonder how people do this on airplanes.”

“Get the fuck off of me. I’m going back to the seats.”

“At least we tried, right? You’re mine at the next pit stop.”

\------------

Bus bathroom sex was a bust, but Ian tried not to let that ruin the calm that had settled over him and Mickey. Since the confession about his dad and the kiss that later followed, Mickey had relaxed considerably.

“What are your plans once we make it to California?”

Mickey, without looking up from the bag of Skittles that he was rifling through, simply shrugged his shoulders. “I have no fucking clue. I think I have enough money to spend like a week at a motel before I have to find an apartment or something.” His head shot up with a triumphant look as he pulled a handful of orange Skittles out of the bag. “What about you?”

It took all Ian had in him not to blurt out that maybe they could combine their money and find a place together. It had become easy for Ian to forget that he’d just met the guy earlier that day.

“Same as you, I guess.” Ian replied, trying to sound as casual as possible. “Should probably try and find a job as soon as I get there.”

The conversation about the future died after that and Ian was left to watch as Mickey tried to shove as many orange Skittles in his mouth as he could.

“Having fun there, Mick?”

Mickey smiled a bright orange smile at Ian as he swallowed the large amount of candy that he had in his mouth. “I’ve got to do something, man. If I’m not going to get fucked in the bathroom, then I’ll do anything to make this ride go by faster. I can’t believe it’s only been 10 hours.”

“We could always play another game.”

Mickey scoffed and threw a Skittle right at the middle of Ian’s forehead, causing the redhead to lare. “Because that worked out well before.”

Ian grabbed the bag of candy out of the older boy’s hand. “Seeing as it practically led us to making out, I would say it worked out pretty damn well, asshole.” Ian threw a Skittle back at Mickey. “It doesn’t have to be Truth or Dare. We could play I-Spy. 20 Questions. I think I might have a deck of cards somewhere. Maybe we could play Go Fish.”

“I swear to god you are actually only five years old.”

“That would make this whole situation a little creepy, don’t you think?”

“Never mind, you aren’t five. You’re just a fucking dork.” Mickey made an attempt to snatch the Skittles bag back out of Ian’s hand, who quickly moved it out of the way, causing Mickey to fall head first into Ian’s lap.

“Wow, Mick.” Ian whispered. “I know that the bathroom didn’t work out and that you might be a little desperate, but I never pegged you for an exobitionist.”

Ian barked out a loud laugh as Mickey grabbed the Skittles bag out of Ian’s outstretched hand and scrambled back into his seat, scowling at Ian the whole time.

“You’re the fucking worst.”

“You seem to like me. What does that say about you?” Ian sassed back, grinning as Mickey’s scowl got bigger. “Come on, play a game with me. I think we have about a couple of hours or so until we stop again.”

“Fine, asshole. I’m thinking of a thing. You have 20 questions to guess what it is.”

“Nooooooo.” Ian whined pathetically. “I wanted to play the version where I get to ask you 20 questions and you have to answer them all.” Ian put on his best doe-eyed face, hoping to get Mickey to agree.

It didn’t work. “That’s basically Truth or Dare minus Dare. Fuck that.”

“Please, Mickey.” Ian thought of another tactic he could use to try and get Mickey to oblige. “I’ll do whatever you want later.” He drawled somewhat seductively in Mickey’s ear.

That seemed to work. “Fine. I’m holding you to that though.”

Ian beamed. “Favorite color?”

“Green.”

“Like my eyes... Interesting.” Ian couldn’t help but add.

“Keep that shit up and we won’t be playing anymore.”

“Favorite movie?” “Under Siege.”

“Really? Steven Segal? He sucks eggs.”

Mickey practically growled at Ian. “Are you going to add commentary after every one of my answers?”

“Fine, I’ll stop. Favorite food?” “Pancakes.”

“Favorite candy bar?” “Snickers.”

“Favorite thing to drink?” “Beer.”

“When did you get your tattoos?” “13. My brother, Iggy, did them.”

Ian blinked at him. “You’ve had the words Fuck U-Up on your knuckles since you were thirteen?”

Mickey looked down at his hands. “I like them… try and think of it as free advertising.” He said, a little defensively. “That counts as a question by the way. You have 13 more.”

“That’s so not fair.” Ian balked at him. “Whatever. Who’s your best friend?”

“I don’t really do the whole friend thing.”

“Fine, let me rephrase that then. This so doesn’t count as another question by the way; who knows you the best?”

There was a pause as Mickey averted his eyes away from Ian and mumbled something under his breath.

“Excuse me there, mumbles. I didn’t quite catch that.”

“You, probably you.” Mickey blurted out, focusing his eyes on the floor. “Especially after this stupid bus ride.”

Ian was pretty sure that his heart was going to beat out of his chest and his face was going to split in two. Before he could say anything though, Mickey quickly cut him off. “Don’t turn this into a thing. Next question, let’s go. 12 more.”

It was a thing and although Ian wanted to talk about Mickey’s outburst, he decided to take some pity on him. “You know what, how about I stop at ten and then you can ask me ten? I’m pretty sure I can’t come up with twelve more anyways. What do you like to do for fun?”

“People have fun in the Southside?”

“I did, usually with my siblings though.”

“The Milkoviches don’t really do fun. My brothers and I went on runs with my dad, sometimes I’d hang out with Mandy. Pretty much did what I had to do to get by. It is what it is, you have one last question.”

Though Ian said he couldn’t come with 12 more questions, he had been lying. He probably had 1000 more things that he could quiz Mickey about, but Ian had to play it cool.

He didn’t want to play it too cool though. “Kiss me?” Swing and a miss.

Surprisingly, Mickey just smiled at him and raised his eyebrows. “That’s not really a question.”

“Can I kiss you? Actually better yet, will you kiss me?”

“Smooth, Ian.” Mickey mumbled before leaning forward and brushing his lips over Ian’s. It wasn’t long until the redhead ran his tongue over Mickey’s lower lip, causing Mickey to part his own and grant Ian full access. Mickey’s hand snuck up Ian’s arm into his hair as Ian’s own hands went to cup his cheeks. One of them let out a quiet moan, at this point Ian wasn’t sure who, and the kiss seemed to get deeper.

Eventually, Mickey pulled away from Ian and whipped his thumb over his bottom lip. “My turn to ask the questions.” He whispered to Ian with dazed eyes.

Ian had almost forgot about the stupid question game that he himself had started. He just needed to kiss Mickey some more. He started to lean forward to get what he wanted but was gently shoved back. “Favorite color?”

Ian stared deeply into Mickey’s eyes and answered his first question. “Blue.”

Mickey quickly caught on to the reasoning behind Ian’s answer. Rolling his eyes, he took the opportunity to mock him. “Just like my eyes... Interesting.”

“Maybe it’s just coincidence. Kind of like your answer, right?”

Mickey subsequently ignored him and moved on. “Favorite movie?”

“You are just stealing all of my questions! What’s the fun in that?”

“You never said that I couldn’t, fucktwat. Answer the question.”

“Double Impact… or Rambo.”

Ian was caught off guard when Mickey burst out laughing next to him. “Double Impact? Are you fucking kidding me?” Mickey choked out between laughter. “You have no right to make fun of me for liking Steven Segal when you watch that trash.”

Ian glared back at the still almost giggling Mickey. “I thought we weren’t allowed to make comments about each other’s answers, dickhead.”

“Humph, like that stopped you. Favorite food?”

“You are so lame. Lasagna, maybe? I don’t really have one.”

Mickey paused for a moment, a look of concentration coming over his face as he seemingly thought of another question. “Oldest dude you’ve ever fucked?”

Ian’s gaped at Mickey, who could only stare back at him challengingly. “Come on, tough guy. You wanted better questions.”

“You suck. You really really suck.” Ian paused. “Late 50’s, early 60’s. Not exactly sure how old he was.”

Mickey sneered at the answer. “Dude, that’s so fucking gross. How’d you bag that geriatric viagroid?”

Embarrassed, Ian stole Mickey’s avoidance tactic and stared over his shoulder out the window. “I met him at a club. He was my sister’s boyfriend’s dad.” Ian mumbled, kind of hoping that Mickey didn’t hear the last part.

“What?!”

“I didn’t know when we started!” Ian exclaimed, trying to defend himself. “I found out when we all went to dinner one night and he was there. I stopped hanging out with him afterwards.”

“Weren’t you underage? He took advantage of you. That’s sick, man.”

“Hey, I got enough shit about it from my brother and sister years ago. I don’t need any from you.” Ian snapped and turned away from Mickey, facing the aisle.

“Don’t get your panties in a knot, Gallagher.” Ian went on ignoring him. “If it makes you feel any better, I just wasted like three questions with that, so we are almost done with this dumb game. I told you it would cause trouble.”

“It’s not a dumb game!” Ian cried out, turning back around to face Mickey, who looked a little smug.

“It was all a plan for you to get us to learn more about each other or some shit. What do you want to do next? Spread a blanket out and look at shooting stars?”

“Actually I was thinking about a picnic. Get a little basket, make some potato salad, feed each other desserts.” Ian shot back.

“Favorite flavor of pie?”

The abrupt change in conversation rattled Ian a little. “What the hell?”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to fight with you over stupid shit that doesn’t matter. Let’s finish this game. What is your favorite flavor of pie?”

Ian still felt a little tense but answered anyways. “Apple.”

“Good, three more to go. Favorite subject in school?” “English.”

“Summer or winter?” “Fall. One more.”

Mickey eyed Ian. “My last question is: can you relax? I’m sorry, okay? It was none of my business and after making you listen to all of my shit I shouldn’t have judged you.”

Ian felt as though all of the tension left his body and immediately transferred over to Mickey’s. He quickly leaned forward and pecked Mickey on the lips, somewhat surprising them both.

“I’m sorry too. It was a weird time in my life and I get a little defensive.” Ian took the risk and quickly pressed his lips on to Mickey’s once again before pulling away completely. “I swear we bicker like an old married couple. You’d never know that we just met this morning.”

Mickey ran his hands over his face, obviously a little embarrassed by Ian’s intimacy and hoping to hide it. “It’s this fucking hell hole of a bus. It makes time slow down to almost a complete stop.”

“I think we are going to stop soon. That should be fun.”

Ian saw Mickey grin out of the corner of his eye, probably thinking about the same thing Ian was.

\------------

When the bus finally pulled up to it’s second pit stop a little while later, Ian let Mickey out of their row first and then leaned down and grabbed something out of his bag. He made sure to stuff the items in his pocket before Mickey could see and followed the brunette off the bus.

“Hey, Raggedy-Andy.”

Ian, red hair and all, knew that there was a likely chance that the nickname was directed towards him. Turning around, he came face to face with the bus driver. Great, this guy again.

“I just wanted to let you know that you and your boyfriend better keep an eye on your watches during your little sexcapade. I’m not going to hunt you down this time.” The driver threw a smirk at Ian and a wave at Mickey over the redhead’s shoulder before sauntering away towards to the vending machines.

“What the fuck was that about?” Mickey asked as Ian turned to face him with wide eyes.

“He basically told us to fuck fast or he was going to leave us behind.” He started to laugh as Mickey stared back at him in a stunned silence.

The laughter seemed to snap Mickey out of his trance. “Well… Are we going to listen to him or not?”

It was Ian’s turn to stare in a stunned silence. It didn’t last very long as he quickly grabbed Mickey’s wrist and started dragging him away from the other passengers. Ian had no idea where he was going, but he knew he had to get there fast.

The bus had stopped at a rest stop that also doubled as a campground, so there were not many options for where they could go. Ian stopped to take a quick look at his surroundings till he spotted the perfect place and pulling Mickey with him.

“The fucking showers? That’s the best we can do?” He heard Mickey pant behind him.

“Now is not the time to be picky, Mickey.” Ian couldn’t help but laugh at the rhyme as he pushed Mickey into the last stall of the empty shower area. “Come on, I want to have time to get a candy bar from the vending machine before we have to get back on the bus.”

“Wow, thanks for making me feel special.”

Ian grabbed a hold of Mickey’s face. “You are special.” He whispered before leaning in and fiercely kissing Mickey. He shoved Mickey against the wall of the shower, making quick work of his belt and zipper. After shoving Mickey’s pants down, Ian feel to his knees, grabbing the other man’s dick in the process, and started stroking. After a few pumps, Ian leaned forward to mouth at the head of Mickey’s dick before he slowly moved down and took more of him in. He preened at the deep groans from above and reveled in the feeling of Mickey’s fingers running through his hair and latching on. He started to work faster, reaching up to pump the base as he licked up and down Mickey’s shaft.

Ian’s other hand shot up to hold onto Mickey’s hip as he felt Mickey start to lose control and buck into his mouth. Soon, the fingers in his hair gripped tighter and the moans became constant. Ian deep throated Mickey and swallowed around him one last time before he felt himself being dragged off his knees and back up towards the other man.

Mickey threw himself at Ian, pressing their lips together in a desperate attempt to get closer. Ian quickly grabbed the bottom of Mickey’s top and pulled it upwards, breaking the kiss, and then did the same to himself.

“Get the fuck on me.” Mickey gasped out, fumbling with Ian’s own belt buckle and pushing down his pants

Ian huffed out a laugh as he leaned forward and nipped on Mickey’s lips. “I’m trying.”

He leaned down and dug into his pockets, grabbing the condom and small bottle of lube that he had made to sure to get out of his bag. “Where the fuck did that come from?” He heard Mickey say through the sex induced haze.

“Always prepared, Mick.” He stood back up and kissed Mickey again while lubing up his fingers. He soon shoved his fingers into Mickey, causing both of them to moan into the kiss and crash their hips together for more friction. Ian quickly but carefully prepped Mickey before the older boy pushed him away and turned around to face the wall.

“Get the fuck on me.” Mickey repeated again, this time in a huskier voice.

Ian rolled the condom over his dick and positioned himself behind the waiting Mickey. He lined himself up and slowly began to push in.

Everything after that felt like a blur. Before Ian or Mickey knew it, they were both barrelling towards the edge unable to stop. The rhythm that they had previously established fell away as Ian started to pound into Mickey at an erratic pace with Mickey meeting him thrust for thrust, giving as good as he took.

Ian could feel himself start to unravel, so he reached around Mickey’s waist to grab a hold of his dick, jacking him off at a hurried pace. The combination of both simulations caused Mickey to come hard. Ian followed closely behind him, unable to control himself with the feel of Mickey’s ass squeezing around him.

Ian slumped against Mickey’s back as he leaned up against the wall and they came down from their orgasms. Ian pressed a quick kiss to the back of Mickey’s neck before slowly pulling out, causing both men to groan at the sensation. He made quick work of the condom and then faced Mickey, who had turned around towards Ian still slumped up against the wall.

“Fuck, that was good.” Mickey managed to get out, the satisfaction obvious on his face.

Ian smiled before moving their clothes out of the shower stall so that he could turn the water on.

“See, there are advantages to fucking in the shower. Don’t have to go back on the bus covered in sweat and jizz.”

He waited until the water was somewhat warm then pulled Mickey into the shower with him, where he took his time to run his hands up and down Mickey. Halfway through his journey back down Mickey’s chest, Ian felt a hand on his cheek which caused him to look up into Mickey’s eyes. Mickey leaned forward to gently kiss Ian before moving his own hands up and down Ian’s body. After a couple of minutes of softly feeling each other up, Mickey pulled away from Ian.

“Come on, let’s go get you that candy bar.”

\------------

“What do you want?”

When he got no answer, Ian looked over at Mickey, who still seemed a little out of it, staring off into space with a small smile on his face. “Mickey? Mickey.” Ian leaned over and shoved the dazed man.

“What the hell?”

“I asked you what you wanted.”

Mickey raised his eyebrows at Ian. “The whole point of that stupid twenty questions game was to get to know me and now you don’t remember my answers.” Mickey started to laugh. “Remind me never to play a game with you again.”

Ian flipped him off as he typed in a number on the vending machine and grabbed the candy bar that came out of the slot.

He passed the Snickers bar to Mickey as they made their way back to the Greyhound just as the bus driver was about to shut the doors.

\------------

One day and ten hours to go.


	5. confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is in Mickey's POV but it deals a lot with Ian being bipolar. Honestly, my knowledge of bipolar disorder really extends as far as what I've seen on the show or other media, so I apologize ahead of time for any mistakes. Also this chapter is about 900% dialogue and 1000 words less than the last one but they can't all feature shower smut unfortunately. 
> 
> If anyone has any ideas or something they would like to see Ian and Mickey do while on this journey, let me know. I am running out of ideas and I still have a day and a half to go. Thank you to BenjiTyler for giving me some ideas for this chapter.

“I’m sick.”

Mickey’s eyes shot open and he moved away from the window that he had previously been resting his head on. He turned towards Ian in confusion. 

“What the?” Mickey started in confusion. “You gonna puke? Do you need some aspirin or something? I might have some on me.” He bent down to start digging through his bag.

“I don’t have a fucking headache, Mick.” Ian said almost desperately.

“Well then what is it?” Mickey was thoroughly confused at this point.

Ian didn’t say anything, just stared back before finally running his fingers through his hair and then down his face.

“Gallagher, I have no idea what the fuck is going on. You gotta help me out here.”

Similar to the last pit stop, a silence had fallen over Mickey and Ian since returning to their seats on the bus. Before though, the silence had been due to Mickey’s overthinking and vulnerability. Now, it looked like it was Ian’s turn.

It hadn’t taken Mickey long to realize that something was going on with Ian. About twenty minutes into the ride, Ian had started to fidget in his seat as well as constantly glancing at his watch. Just as Mickey was about to say something, Ian shot up out of his seat, mumbled something about using the restroom and ran off down the aisle. 

When Ian had returned to his seat, he seemed even more fidgety and anxious. Mickey decided not to ask about it, knowing enough about the kid to know that he would tell him eventually. Sure enough, Mickey was right. 

“I’m sick.” He soon trailed off. 

“I heard you the first time.” Mickey said as soothingly as he could. “Ian, did something happen? Was it something I di-”

He was stopped by Ian waving his arms frantically and practically shouting, “No!”

“No. no. no. no. no.” He sighed and then turned to look Mickey in the eye. “I probably should have told you before, but you were so standoffish and I just wanted to talk to you and then you opened up to me and then we were having fun and then we made out and then we learned more about each other and then we just did that thing in the shower and now it’s probably too late and I am going to fuck all of this up.” 

If it wasn’t for the desperate look on Ian’s face, Mickey might have laughed and made fun of him for his ramblings. Instead, he just reached forward and grabbed Ian on the shoulder, squeezing it gently. 

“Hey. I’m pretty sure at this point you can tell me anything. I mean you told me that you like Van Damme. If I was willing to fuck around with you after that then I’m pretty sure I’m not going anywhere. 

Mickey felt proud of himself when he saw the corner of Ian’s mouth twitch up. Good job, Milkovich. 

“Why does one of us have a freak out after every hook-up? We are 2 for 2 at this point.” Ian mumbled, obviously still not ready to give an explanation. 

“Shitty parenting?” Mickey was startled at the loud sharp laughter that came out of the readhead.

“You have no idea.” He took a sharp breath before finally cracking. “I’m bi-polar.” He seemed to notice the confused look on Mickey’s face so he trudged on. “It means that I go through these elevated mood swings. High-highs followed by low-lows, constantly. Some days I’ll wake up feeling like a fucking superhero and then other days I can’t get out of bed without feeling hopeless.” 

Mickey tried to say something but was quickly cut off by Ian. “I got it from my mom. Some days she’d get up and make dozens and dozens of cookies and then she would take us to do whatever she wanted. She was so fucking happy and carefree. Three days later, she couldn’t get out of bed, she wouldn’t eat. She even tried to kill herself one Thanksgiving.”

Mickey, speechless, did the best he could and grabbed on to Ian’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. It seemed to help somewhat. 

“She never took her meds. When she was manic, she felt too good to make the feeling end, but when she was depressed she felt to weak to even try.”

“When did you find out?” The words poured out of Mickey’s mouth before he could stop them.

“A couple of years ago, I was 17. I just started feeling so fucking good and invincible out of nowhere. I would go for eight mile runs every morning, I barely slept. I would go to the clubs and stay out all night. I moonlighted as a dancer sometimes. I did so many drugs. In my eyes, I couldn’t be stopped until one day I just did.” Mickey gave his hand another squeeze. “It wasn’t until my first depressive episode that my family figured out what was going on and we worked to get it straightened out. It took awhile for me to get meds and to get them sorted out, but I would say that I have been “balanced” for about the last year.”

Mickey had so many questions yet he didn’t know where to start. “So that’s all you can do? Take meds and hope they work?” It wasn’t the smoothest question to start with but it would have to do. 

“Pretty much. Keep active and healthy. Stay away from toxic environments as the shrinks would tell me. Even with the meds though, I can still feel whether I am supposed to be manic or depressive.”

“What do you think you are now?” Mickey couldn’t help but ask.

Ian seemed to stop and think before answering. “Probably manic. Then again I don’t like to use that as an excuse for me feeling really good or really bad, you know? I might just feel really good right now for other reasons.” The pointed look he gave Mickey was not missed. In fact, Mickey could feel the tip of his ear’s begin to blush. “I really am sorry though. I should have told you earlier. I just didn’t want to ruin everything but then I felt like I should tell you now rather than later before-” 

“Ian, I heard the rant the first time. It’s all good. When do you take your meds?” 

Ian’s shoulders noticeably relaxed with Mickey’s statement. “8 in the morning and 8 at night. That’s why I ran to the bathroom before.”

“Now I know.”

“Now you know. I hope I’m not scaring you off or anything. I just feel like this is going somewhere, but I also realize that we just met fucking 12 hours ago or whatever.” He looked away from Mickey, his shoulders once again tensing up. 

“We’ve all got shit, Gallagher. You heard about mine earlier, it’s about time you admitted that you ain’t so perfect.” The word perfect slipped out of his mouth before he realized, but Mickey found himself not wanting to take it back. 

That didn’t mean he wasn’t grateful when Ian seemed to miss it. “You’re shit’s in the past though, Mickey. I am going to be like this for the rest of my life.” Ian still wouldn’t look at Mickey.

“I wish it was that easy, but whatever. You ain’t crazy and I’m pretty sure getting the farthest away from my dad that I can. I think we will both be fine.” 

Ian rewarded Mickey with one of his smiles that put in stomach in knots. Okay, he need to stop all of this.

“Can we stop talking about all of this heavy shit? Whatever happened to afterglow or whatever the fuck it’s called? I swear no one else gets this deep on a damn Greyhound bus.”

He only felt the stomach knot get bigger with Ian’s laughter.

\------------

“What’s your sister like?”

Mickey had just finished telling Ian about the time Iggy had gotten shot in the ass while on a run, so the question came out of nowhere.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. You always talk about your brothers like they are co workers or something. You never talk about your sister.”

“Oh, Mandy is… Mandy.” He knew that Ian wouldn’t understand, but Mickey felt as though that summed his sister up perfectly.

“Do you get along?”

“Yes? I mean I like her way more than I like anyone else in my family. Not that that’s saying much.” 

“Was she sad when you told her you were leaving?”

“She skipped town before I did. She graduated high school, first Milkovich to do so, and just left.” 

“She didn’t tell you?” 

Mickey remembered the day he walked in on Mandy packing a bag in her room. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was doing, but it wasn’t until she asked Mickey to come with her that he knew just how serious she was. Unfortunately for Mickey, he still wasn’t ready to admit just how fucked he was at the Milkovich house. So he stayed behind, letting the most important person in his life walk out. 

“She did.” Mickey didn’t feel like elaborating. 

Thankfully Ian left it alone. “Where is she now?”

“Los Angeles.” Mickey mumbled. 

“Why didn’t you tell me your sister lived in California? That’s so exciting!” Ian exclaimed before pausing. “Wait, why are you going to San Diego?”

It was a good question. Mickey had considered following Mandy to the L.A. before ultimately deciding that he didn’t want it to look like he was running to his sister as well as wanting some space. Fortunately, it was only a two hour ride between the cities, so Mickey knew he could see his sister when needed. 

“Just thought we needed some space. Trust me, you don’t know my sister until you’ve fought my sister.” 

“Kind of sounds like my siblings. You’ll have to get together with her once we get to California.”

“You’d two would probably be two peas in a fuckin’ pod or something.” Mickey muttered. “Mandy’s always had a hard on for the knight in shining armor/perfect boy scout act.”

“That’s the second time you’ve called me perfect in the last couple of hours, Mick.” Ian boasted. Damn, the fucker had been listening. 

“Fuck off. What are your siblings like? Are they all as irritating as you?”

“Probably. Fiona is the protective caretaker. Lip is the smart asshole. Debbie is the sweet nurturer. Carl is the “budding psychopath”, other people’s words not mine. Liam is the cute baby. That’s my family.” 

“Where do you fall into that?”

The question caused Ian to rear back in confusion. “Huh?’

“If your siblings are all of those things, what are you?” Mickey was kind of shocked (and proud) of himself that he was able to even attempt a conversation like this with someone.

Ian himself seemed a little shocked too and took his time to think of a way to answer Mickey. “I don’t know...Runaway mental case?” Ian tried to joke.

Mickey was not amused and made sure Ian could tell. 

“I was always kind of in the background. Fiona is the mom, Lip is the smart one, Debbie is the cutest, Carl is always getting in trouble. I guess I didn’t really get my time on the center stage until I got sick.”

“That’s fucked up, man.”

“Maybe but it is what it is. I was bitter about it for awhile but not so much anymore. I think that’s a reason why I left. I had kind of gotten used to being in the background so when all of a sudden everybody cared a little too much, it got suffocating.”

Mickey let that settle between them before he had to chime in. “What did I say about the heavy shit? No more.” 

“You started it!”

“I’m not doing that with you again, Gallagher.”

\------------

“Mickey?”

Mickey both felt and heard Ian’s whisper from where his head rested on the taller man’s shoulder, but he made no move to show that he was actually awake.

“Mickey? Are you awake?”

Mickey continued to stay still. 

“Since you said no more heavy shit, maybe it’s better for you to be asleep when I tell you this.” Ian paused and Mickey was tempted to say that he was awake. At time same time though, he wanted to know what Ian had to say. “I just wanted to thank you for being so cool about everything today. I keep forgetting that we only met 14 hours ago. You are just so easy to talk to, even though you like to pretend not to be, and you listen and you care. I feel like we’ve been doing this for years and it’s as though I’ve known you for a long time. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s really weird.”

Ian took a deep breath. “I’m just afraid I’m going to scare you off. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t yet. I know that I can be a little intense sometimes, especially when I see something I like and I really really like you. You are so fucking funny and nice but sarcastic and grumpy at the same time. You also fuck like a champ, A+ right there.”

He trailed off and Mickey thought that was the end of it. Just as he was about to lift his head to look at Ian, he felt Ian’s lips brush over the top of his head and his hair. 

“I feel a little creepy talking to you like this while you are sleeping, but it felt good. Maybe someday I won’t be too nervous to say it to your face.”

With that, Ian rested his own head atop of Mickey’s and soon fell asleep, leaving Mickey to be consumed by his own thoughts.

\------------

One day and seven hours to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I might start taking prompts. I am having fun writing again.


	6. breakdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope that this chapter doesn't seemingly come out of nowhere... It was kind of the plan all along for a later chapter but I moved it up and then I just felt so unsure about it. I'm okay with the end result though, so hopefully y'all are too. It's once again in Mickey's POV. Thanks for everyone who gave me ideas! I bucked down the other night and outlined the rest of this story, which feels great.
> 
> That being said, I start my senior year of college on Monday so updates might not be as frequent.
> 
> Read, enjoy, tell me what you think!

When Mickey woke up next, he noticed three things. One: it was pitch black outside, two: sometime in the middle of the night Ian had shifted off of him and was currently resting his head against the back of the seat, and three: he was the only one awake on the bus save for a woman in the back who was typing on a laptop. 

Sleep hadn’t come easy to Mickey that night but at the same time it never did. This time Ian’s speech was the reason for his tossing and turning. 

If it had been anyone other than Ian, Mickey probably would have kicked their ass without blinking. When Ian said that stuff though, Mickey didn’t really know what to do or how he felt. No one had ever told Mickey that he was a good listener or great to talk to nor had anyone ever told him that he was nice or funny. Why Ian of all people would think these things was confusing to Mickey. He could understand the same adjectives being applied to Ian but never himself. 

Not shockingly, Mickey had never been the kind of person to talk about his feelings. The only person he’d ever opened up to (before Ian) was Mandy and that had only been done when absolutely necessary. Ian was the first person that Mickey had ever really really talked to and he still had no idea why it was so easy. 

Except he did know. While Ian was borderline annoying and bossy, he was pretty fucking amazing. He too was a good listener. He was easily the funniest guy that Mickey had ever met and he also fucked like a porn star. 

But if Ian was nervous to say those things to Mickey’s face, then Mickey was downright terrified to say them back. He also felt guilty knowing how Ian felt yet knowing it would be unlikely that he’d ever be able to reciprocate. Ian didn’t deserve that therefore Mickey didn’t deserve Ian. 

The longer Mickey allowed his mind to run wild, the more he started to panic. The same thing had happened after the first pit stop and now it was happening again only worse. His chest started to feel tight and he felt himself start to sweat. Mickey quickly stood up and carefully climbed over Ian before rushing down the aisle, passed the woman on the computer, and into the bathroom. 

Mickey stared at himself wide eyed in the mirror and almost had to laugh. He had no idea where this panic attack was coming from, but it was here. Mickey sat himself down on the toilet and felt himself start to lose breath. What the hell was going on?

A knock on the door brought Mickey somewhat back to Earth and he managed to bark out “Occupied.”

“Oh I know. I saw you rush past me in a hurry. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”  
Mickey ignored the voice on the other side of the door and resumed panicking. 

“I might be able to help. I’m a nurse.” Damn, this bitch was persistent. 

Mickey opened the door and saw that it was the lady with the laptop. “Go away.” He wheezed out, hoping she’d take the hint and leave him alone.

“Are you sure? Are you hyperventilating? You seem to be panicked about something.” 

What is with these damn people on a Greyhound bus always trying to get all up in his business?

Just as Mickey was going to tell her to kindly once again fuck off, the woman ran back to her seat, grabbed something, and came back. She held out a brown paper bag to Mickey, encouraging him to take it. 

“I get car sick so I carry like 100 of these on me during these bus trips. Take this one and breathe in and out into it. It’ll help, trust me.” 

Feeling his chest start to tighten, Mickey reluctantly grabbed the bag and did as he was told. Eventually he did start to feel better, but he wasn’t about to tell this woman that. She seemed to notice anyways.

“You look better already! Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” Talking to a stranger on a bus was what put Mickey into this situation in the first place.

“As a nurse, I can really hel-” Before she could finish her sentence, the bus made a loud sound and jolted forward. Mickey looked out the window and watched as the bus came to a stop and pulled over the the side of road.

_“Ladies and Gentlemen. I know it’s late and I’m sorry, but I have an unfortunate announcement. It seems that we are having some technical problems with the bus so we have come to a stop. Now, you are not allowed to remain on the bus while we are working on it, but fortunately I was able to stop outside a town. You will be allowed to exit the bus and go there during the duration of this breakdown. Once again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.”_

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Mickey pushed his way past the laptop lady and made his way back to his seat. He saw Ian awake and looking around confused before he spotted Mickey, a smiling forming on his face. 

“Hey, I was looking for you! Where were you? Causing the bus to break down so we can spend even more time on it?” Ian joked before catching on to the sour look on Mickey’s face. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Mickey snapped back, instantly feeling guilty but telling himself not to care. “Let’s just get off this hell hole.” He leaned over Ian and grabbed his bag before making his way off the bus, not even waiting for Ian to follow. 

As soon as he felt the fresh air on his face, Mickey felt fractionally better. It didn’t last very long though as Ian was soon next to him. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” The concern was evident in the redhead’s voice. 

“I said I was, didn’t I? Jeez, why won’t anyone around here believe me?” 

Ian blinked. “Maybe because you are biting my head off? Fuck man, did you sleep wrong or something?”

Before Mickey had a chance to respond, Nurse laptop lady walked up and interrupted them. 

“Hey! I was looking for you. I bet the fresh air is doing you wonders. I mean you obviously aren’t still hyperventilating.” Out of the corner of his eye, Mickey saw Ian shot him a worried look, but he chose to ignore him. 

“I’m fine.” Mickey growled, hoping the lady would get the message and go away.

It seemed to work. “Okay then… I think I’m interrupting something. I’ll just be over there.” She scampered off without looking back. 

She was barely two steps away before Ian pounced on Mickey. “When were you hyperventilating? Why didn’t you wake me up? Are you okay?”

Mickey was pretty sure that Ian had about thirty more questions he could ask had Mickey not cut him off. 

“I told you earlier that I was fucking fine. I just told her I was fucking fine. Just drop it, Jesus Christ.”

He turned on his foot and stormed off away from Ian. Mickey knew he was wrong in his attempts to push away Ian, but for the life of him he couldn’t stop. After all, Milkoviches didn’t deserve good things.

\------------

It didn’t take Ian long to find Mickey inside the convenience store he had gone into hoping to find a pack of cigarettes and a tube of Pringles. 

“Maybe once you get some food in you, you won’t be so grumpy.” 

“I thought you liked the fact that I’m grumpy.” Mickey wanted to shoot himself after the comment slipped out of his mouth. Ian wasn’t supposed to know that he had been awake before.

“Huh?” Luckily for him, Ian did not seem to catch his slip up. 

“It’s nothing, man.” Mickey mumbled before turning to make a hasty escape towards the cash register. Ian trailed right behind him. Thankfully, he stayed quiet while Mickey paid for his items, but he still followed Mickey as he walked back outside and found a bench. 

“You’re like a little puppy aren’t you? Following me around, begging for attention.” Mickey commented. 

“I’m not begging for attention. I just want to know what the fuck is wrong with you.” Ian argued back. 

Mickey ignored his statement and went about lighting his cigarette. The first pull felt amazing as it was the first cigarette he’d had since leaving Chicago that morning. He’d been a little preoccupied during the other two rest stops. 

The reason for his distraction fidgeted next to him and Mickey unconsciously offered the cigarette to him. “No thanks. I quit when I got sick.”

Mickey quickly finished off the cigarette and took another one out of the pack, allowing the flow of smoke settle his nerves.

“Did I do something?” He should have known that Ian wouldn’t be able to let it go. 

“Not everything’s about you, Gallagher.” Mickey took another drag from his cigarette. 

“What is it then? You were fine before you fell asleep.”

Mickey looked down at his shoes not saying anything. Finally, Ian seemed to catch on.

“Unless you weren’t asleep… you heard me.” Ian accused next to him. Mickey did nothing to confirm nor deny. 

“You heard what I said and now you are freaking out. Oh Mickey.”

“Stop, I’m not listening to this shit.” Mickey took one last hit from the cigarette before tossing it aside, standing up, and walking back towards the bus. 

A hand shot out and grabbed his wrist before he could get very far. Mickey whipped around and tore himself away from Ian. 

“I said to leave it the fuck alone, Gallagher. I’m not freaking out.” He was. “I’m not fucking scared.” He was. 

“Mickey, don’t do this.” Ian whispered, his eyes growing big. 

“I’m not… I’m not doing anything.” Mickey let out a loud frustrated groan. 

“Let’s just pretend like I never said anything. Like it never happened” Ian suggested before flinching. 

“So now you are taking it back?” Mickey didn’t know what hurt worse: his insecurities or this.

Ian threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know what you want from me!”

“I want you to leave me alone!” Mickey boomed before lowering his voice. “I just need some goddamn space.”

This time when he walked away, Ian didn’t follow.

\------------

“Hey douchebag.”

“Mandy, I need your help.”

There was a beat of silence over the phone line.

“Wow, the great Mickey Milkovich is calling his little sister for help? Is hell freezing over?”

“Fuck this, forget it.” Mickey hung up. 

It didn’t work and his phone was ringing two seconds later. He reluctantly answered. 

“You can’t get away from me that easily, asshole.” Mandy snapped through the phone. “How much help could you possibly need anyways? Aren’t you on the bus?”

Mickey stayed silent.

“Did you fucking get arrested on the bus, Mickey? What did you do?!”

“No, I didn’t get fucking arrested.” He paused and took a deep breath. “There’s this guy on the bus that-.”

The quick change from Mandy’s anger to her sudden laughter startled Mickey. 

“You are calling me about a boy?!” Mandy screeched over the phone. “A boy that you met on a cross country bus trip?! I honestly never expected this day to come. You calling me for boy advice. Hell must be freezing over.” 

“Mandy, please.”

This time, she seemed to catch on to the serious tone in Mickey’s voice. 

“Wow, okay. I’m calm. What’s wrong?”

Mickey soon launched into the whole story of he and Ian, telling Mandy everything from their first conversation all the way to Mickey’s most recent freak out. When he was done, Mandy seemed a little stunned. 

“God, Mickey. For someone who is as emotionally stunted as you are, you sure know how to become a main character of a fucking real life romance novel.”

“It’s so damn stupid, Mandy. I just met the fucking dude half a day ago.” 

“Mickey, I think you are overthinking things. It’s painfully obvious to me that you like this guy and it sounds like he is fucking crazy about you. Jeez, if I knew that all it took to meet my dream guy would be to get on a bus, I would have boarded one months ago.”

“So you think I’m being stupid?”

“No, I think you are being a Milkovich.”

“Same thing.” Mickey muttered.

“Probably... Mickey, I say take a chance with this Ian Gallagher. If you get off this seemingly magical Greyhound bus and everything blows up in the real world, then so be it. At least you could say you tried, right?”

“When did you turn into such a hopeless romantic?”

“When I escaped from that house of horrors we called a home. California is going to change you, Mickey. Who knows, maybe this time next year, you’ll be shaking your ass at some pride parade.”

\------------

“Is this seat taken?”

Ian glanced up at Mickey and then went back to picking at his fingernails.

“I thought that was my line.” Ian mumbled back to him.

Mickey couldn’t help the small grin that spread across his face as he sat down on the small bench next to Ian. 

It became painfully obvious that for once Ian wasn’t going to start the conversation, so Mickey decided to suck it up and get this going. 

“So it seems like we are moving backwards. This time we didn’t even get the chance to fuck before one of us had another meltdown.”

The huff of laughter from next to him let Mickey know that Ian was listening to him. 

Mickey fought the urge to light up a cigarette. “Look, I heard everything you said last night and you were right, it freaked me out. It’s just that, fuck I feel like I am having the same damn problem I was having this morning.”

“You weren’t having a panic attack this morning though.” Ian pointed out, leaving Mickey with no idea how to respond. 

“I’m not perfect, Mickey.” Ian’s voice cut through the silence. “God knows I tried to pretend that I was for a long time, but I’m not. I’m the redheaded bastard child of my alcoholic dad’s brother and my flakey mom. I dreamed my whole life of going to West Point and joining the army only to fuck it all up and become an exotic dancer. You’ve seemed to form this picture in your head that I am this perfect person but as flattering as that is, it’s not true.”

Mickey tried to object before Ian started talking again. “The thing is Mickey, you and I are exactly the same. I think of you as this perfect guy too. I know you don’t see yourself this way though and that is what is causing this whole thing.” 

“It’s all about you thinking what we deserve. I deserve better, you don’t deserve anything. It’s all a bunch of bullshit. No one should be able to decide what someone deserves except for that person.”

Mickey sat stunned, staring at Ian. The taller man still hadn’t looked up from his fingernails. 

“That was some deep shit, man.” Mickey said. 

“Well, you said no more talking about heavy stuff on the bus, so I thought I should probably get all out while we’re stuck here.”

It was Mickey’s turn to huff out a laugh. “I guess it’s my turn then.” 

That got Ian to look up from his fingernails and into Mickey’s eyes. Mickey took it as a sign to continue. 

“I’m sorry. I’ve said all of this before, but I’ve never done this. Honestly, I’m probably never going to be able to fully do this. I’m just not wired that way or whatever. It’s all just happening so fast and I can’t keep up.”

“That just sounds like a bunch of excuses not to be happy, Mickey.” 

“I’ve never fucking been allowed to be happy, Ian.” Mickey shot back. “I’ve been scared my whole fucking life and now all of a sudden everything is allowed to be all sunshine and rainbows? That’s not how the world fucking works.”

“Why not though? You are away from your dad and that whole mess.”

“If only it was that easy.”

“It could be if you weren’t so stubborn.”

“I’m not stubborn. I just need time.” He saw a flash of hurt flutter across Ian’s face. “I don’t think I’m saying any of this right. I don’t need time away from you. I need time to get used to all of this.”

“I’m not asking you to get married, Mick. I’m not telling you that I’m in love with you or anything. I need time too. Time to get to know you, time to get used to all of this too. Do you really think that it was my plan to corner some poor innocent boy on a bus and make him my bitch or something?” Ian said jokingly. Mickey took it as a good sign. 

“I ain’t nobody’s bitch.”

“I know.” Ian let out a loud laugh, instantly making Mickey feel better. “I swear there is something wrong with that bus. It’s making us go crazy. Maybe they pump in extra oxygen or some shit into it to make us feel loopy?”

A calm then filled the space between them, but Mickey had to break it eventually.

“So, we good?”

“Yeah, man. Just… if you are feeling overwhelmed again, talk to me. I know I can be a lot sometimes, but I also know how to back off.”

Before Mickey had a chance to respond, they were interrupted by an announcement from their bus driver. 

_“Hey, everyone! Listen up! It looks like this is going to take a little bit longer than I initially thought. In fact, it’ll probably be a few more hours. Fortunately, I talked to the local hotel and they have enough rooms for almost everyone, some people will have to share.”_

A loud protest erupted from the crowd. 

_“I know, I know! It sucks, but the rooms will be on us. Also, just remember at the end of the day, if enough people complain, maybe Greyhound will refund a part of your ticket.”_

“We might as well walk back to Chicago. It might be easier.” Ian kept rambling on next to Mickey, but he wasn’t listening. 

“Want to bunk up together?” Even Mickey could hear the nervous tremor in his voice and it was enough to shut Ian up. 

He looked almost as nervous as Mickey sounded. “Are you sure?”

“I really wish people would stop asking me that. I said I was.” Mickey barked back.

Something inside of Ian snapped. “Listen up, asshole. You just asked me if we were good and I said yes and I meant it, but I am not going to let you snap at me like that. We just hashed all this shit out, Mickey, so I was simply offering you some space away from me for a little bit. God knows, we probably have six more weeks together on that fucking bus until we actually make it to San Diego.” He grabbed his bag and started heading to the hotel. 

“Gallagher, wait.” Mickey called as he tried to catch up to Ian and his long legs. 

Ian turned around abruptly, causing Mickey to almost run into him. He let out a deep sigh. “It’s all good, Mickey. I’m dead tired and I just think it would be the best for both of us if we got separate rooms tonight. Give ourselves time to think or whatever and then we can regroup tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning.”

With that, Ian spun around and walked away and this time it was Mickey’s turn not to follow. 

\------------

One day and five hours to go.


	7. hotel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't plan on posting this so quickly, but it all hit me at once and I just started writing.  
> It get's a little mature (coughsmutcough) towards the middle, so beware.

Nothing felt good about walking away from Mickey Milkovich, but Ian knew it had been the right thing to do. The separation wasn’t permanent. They were simply spending the night apart before seeing each other again in the morning. At least that’s what Ian kept telling himself.

Quickly finding his room for the night, Ian tried to settle down into bed. His body was dead tired, feeling the weight of the day pressing down on it, but his mind wouldn’t shut off. 

He kept running through everything that had happened from the moment he sat down next to Mickey on the bus to now. From the talking to the fucking to the fighting, he went over it all. He should have realized that Mickey was only a shoe drop away from freaking out, but he had been too blinded by everything. After Mickey’s first moment and Ian’s bipolar confession, he really had thought they were done with all the angsty bullshit. 

But honestly, when had Ian ever been right about anything when it came to relationships. Kash, Ned, the douchebags from the club. They all blew up in his face eventually. Why not add Mickey Milkovich to the list?

Ian didn’t want to add Mickey to that list of losers though. For one, Mickey was actually his age. Two, he had told Mickey more about himself than he’d probably told anyone, sans Lip. Three, there was something about the boy that just felt right. He couldn’t explain it, but Ian knew he didn’t want to let it go either. 

Staring at the lonely hotel room’s ceiling, he soon became resigned to the fact that he was fucked for Mickey Milkovich and he wanted it to stay that way for the foreseeable future. 

He laid there for close to a hour, not getting an ounce of sleep, before ultimately giving up. He tried to watch television for awhile, before ultimately giving up as well.

He wanted, no he needed to talk to Mickey, now. 

He scrambled out of bed to find his phone, mentally patting himself on the back for saving Mickey’s number earlier that day.

Not caring that it was closing in on three in the morning, Ian typed out four different text messages before he hastily settling on:

_What’s your room like?_

As soon as he sent it, Ian wanted to take it back. It sounded like the beginning of a bad pick up line. Smooth Ian Gallagher, smooth. Tossing his phone aside, Ian stood up to try and literally kick himself for his stupidity. Suddenly the phone dinged on the bed and Ian launched himself across the room, scrambling to read the screen.

**that sounds like the start of a fuckin’ pick up line**

Ian beamed down at the screen and instantly felt better. 

_I’m sorry._

Ian figured he might as well get the real reason for this conversation out of the way. 

**why u apologizing?**

_For abandoning you, making us sleep in separate rooms, the stuff I said._

**i should be saying sorry to u… i’m sorry**

_Maybe we could both just be sorry and try to leave it at that._

**sounds good. whatcha been doin?**

_I can’t sleep._

Ian didn’t receive a reply from Mickey for awhile, so he figured the smaller boy had fallen asleep. Ian felt less anxious, so he took it as a win. He was settling back down into bed to watch tv when there was an unexpected knock on the door. 

After looking through the peephole, Ian threw the door open to see a nervous looking Mickey Milkovich standing on the other side. 

“Hey.” Ian could see the apprehensive look on Mickey’s face.

“How’d you find my room?”

“I went down to the front desk and asked.” He looked away from Ian and shifted on his feet. “I can go if you want. I just thought after the texting…”

Ian decided to put the boy out of his misery and grabbed his arm, dragging him into the hotel room. 

“No, no, no, of course not. Come on in, stay awhile, make yourself at home. I wasn’t doing anything besides watching some shitty show on tv and texting you.” Ian could see that his rambling clued Mickey in to the fact that he too was nervous, causing the brunette to relax considerably. “So… do you want to sit?” 

The only place in the room to actually sit was the bed, so Ian flung himself down on it and worked his way up to relax against the headboard. As he got comfortable, he noticed Mickey still standing by the door, looking somewhat unsure with himself.

“I’m not going to bite… unless you want me to.” Ian flinched at his stupidness, but luckily it seemed to work as a smirk grew across Mickey’s face and he finally made his way over to the bed. 

“Now, I know that’s a bad pick up line.” 

The tension in the room thinned and Mickey plopped down next to Ian. They sat there and watched television in silence for about ten minutes before the looks started and Mickey and Ian sort of fell into a pattern. Ian would glance at Mickey only to find that he was looking right back at Ian. They would both then look away sheepishly. Glance. Look away. Repeat. Glance. Look away. Repeat. 

The pattern continued about ten more times before Mickey finally put an end to it. 

“We’re fucking acting like twelve year old girls.” Mickey muttered, making sure to leave his focus on the television screen this time. 

“I’m sorry.” Ian muttered back, he too focused on the tv. 

“I thought we were done apologizing.”

Ian let out a frustrated groan and ran his hands over his face. “I know. It’s just… it’s just this is so awkward. Why is it so awkward? We’ve been talking all day for fuck’s sake.” 

“So what do you want to do about it?”

“What do you want to do about it, Mickey?”

“I guess we’re not talking about the awkward silence anymore.” Mickey sighed. “I thought we squashed all of this earlier.”

“Me too, but clearly not.” Ian huffed out, growing more and more agitated with the situation. 

“I’m here ain’t I? I folded like some bitch yet again and came running to find you.” Mickey looked just as frustrated as Ian. 

“You aren’t a bitch, Mickey. You said so yourself.” Ian said quietly, seeing that this was going downhill quickly and desperately trying to return at least some of the calm to the room.

“Well, I’m acting like one. I can’t fuck around with you without freaking out. I can’t listen to you talk about how great I supposedly am without screwing it all up.”

The awkward silence once again grew thicker between them. This was not the way Ian had wanted things to go and he was determined to fix it.

“We’re both fucked up. I have my issues, you have yours.” He kept on talking through Mickey’s scoffs. “You are insecure and angry, I’m insecure and over sensitive. Jesus Christ, Mick. I feel like we are just talking in circles at this point. I said it before and I‘ll say it again: I just want to get to know you and maybe to keep fucking. If that’s too much to ask, honestly just let me know and I’ll try to-”

Ian was unable to finish his sentence as he was cut off by Mickey practically pouncing on him and pressing his lips to Ian’s. He got lost in the feeling of the unexpected kiss for a few minutes before he knew that he had to pull away. “Mickey.”

“Please.” Mickey whispered back. He looked so vulnerable in that moment that all Ian could really do was give in and lean in for another kiss. Ian allowed himself to be dragged closer to Mickey, who in turn pulled Ian on top of him. He felt the smaller man pressed against him from head to toe and Ian was pretty sure he could feel everything. Mickey ran his tattooed fingers through Ian’s hair and tried, if possible, to pull him in even more, deepening the kiss in the process. Tongues brushed against each other and lips nipped at lips.

Mickey’s hands soon moved to run up and down Ian’s back until suddenly, Mickey flipped them over and hustled to straddle Ian. Ian quickly regained his bearings and surged up to bring Mickey’s lips back to his. They made out for a few more minutes before something inside Ian and Mickey snapped. Finally pulling their lips away from each other, they looked into each other’s eyes for a brief second, seemingly coming to a conclusion. 

Ian pushed Mickey off of him and got up to hunt through his bag for the supplies. Finding them right where he stashed them after the last pit stop, he turned around to find Mickey completely naked and stretched out on the bed. It was the first time, outside of a dark shower stall, that Ian was able to admire Mickey’s whole body, so he made sure to take the opportunity. It lasted all of about two seconds before Mickey started to twitch under the deep scrutiny and stares. 

“Are you just going to stare at me all night or are we going to do this?” 

Ian knew the situation was delicate, so he hastily shed his own clothing and climbed back into bed, back on top of Mickey, and back to the kissing. He covered Mickey’s grin with his own and kissed him slowly. A few minutes later, Mickey shoved Ian off of him before once again reversing their positions on the bed. Ian arched his hips up beneath Mickey and slid their hardening cocks together. Mickey met each thrust with a grind down of his own hips down, finding a perfect rhythm. 

Soon, they both lost all restraint and were simply rutting against each other. Just before he lost complete control of his senses though, Ian grabbed a hold of Mickey’s hips and flipped them over, moving his head down to Mickey’s neck to mark the older boy.

He felt Mickey shudder below him as he moved his hands down to rest on Ian’s ass as well as wrap his legs around Ian’s own. Forgetting his original plan of regaining control, Ian continued to grind down into Mickey and suck on his neck with fervour. 

“Ian.” Mickey groaned out as he moved a hand up to grab onto Ian’s hair and drag his face away from his neck. “Hurry the fuck up.” 

The command brought Ian back to reality and he swiftly had two of his fingers lubed up and inside of Mickey. He prepped Mickey with care before rolling the condom onto himself, lining up, and pushing steadily into the welcoming heat. He continued until he bottomed out, pausing to give both men time to adjust to the feeling. Mickey soon panted out a growl and dug his fingers into Ian’s back, indicating that he was ready for Ian to move. 

Ian tried to start out with a slow and steady pace, but it became apparent that it was not working for either boy. Both soon lost all sense of discipline and started moving at a blistering pace. Ian positioned into Mickey as the brunette chanted his name from underneath him. Just as Ian thought he was going to snap, Mickey flipped them over and took the reigns, throwing his head back with a loud moan as he rode Ian into the mattress. He picked up speed as Ian thrusted up into him, causing both of their eyes to roll back in their heads.

Ian knew he didn’t have much longer and judging by the dazed look on Mickey’s face, he didn’t either. Ian pawed at Mickey and tried to pull him forward for a kiss, but his hands wouldn’t function. Mickey smiled down at him, taking the hint, and bent down, shoving his tongue into Ian’s waiting mouth. Ian grabbed onto Mickey’s dick and started stroking him in time with this thrusts and to the point of no return. Mickey flew over the edge, letting out a loud mewl into Ian’s mouth and coming all over his chest. Ian followed right behind him, jerking up into Mickey a few more times before finally slowing down. 

Mickey pulled himself off of Ian and flopped down on the bed next to him, trying to catch his breath. Ian was in no better shape, feeling as though the only thing he could really do at the moment was stare at the ceiling. 

Eventually he was able to muster up enough energy to let out one word: “Wow.”

The deep laughter next to him caused him to turn away from ceiling and look at the man next to him. Mickey was facing him and laughing, a bright look on his face.

“Yeah, man. Wow.”

“At least we know we’re good at that. If only we could get the other shit in order.”

Mickey, still with a bright smile, rolled over back onto Ian and started to kiss his way around the redhead’s flushed neck and chest. “Let’s not talk about that anymore.”

“Mickey…”

Mickey brought his head up to kiss Ian on the lips, effectively cutting him off. 

“Ian, please. In the morning, I promise.” 

Ian stared deeply into Mickey’s vivid blue eyes for a minute before nodding his head.

“Okay.”

\------------

If being inside of Mickey was the best feeling in the world, then waking up spooned against him was a very close second. 

Ian simply felt content with the Milkovich wrapped up in his arms and the feeling of Mickey’s chest rising and falling with his own. 

Unfortunately though, Ian’s internal alarm clock was going off and his bladder was screaming at him. He gingerly pulled away from Mickey and made his way to his bag. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, he saw that it was indeed 8:00, signaling the time to take his pills. 

Ian removed the bottles from his bag and went to the bathroom for a glass of water. As he waited for the pills to settle inside of him, Ian took the opportunity to look in the mirror. The man in the mirror looked content, he looked happy. Ian knew that he and Mickey still had more they needed to talk about, but at this moment he felt okay.

The hotel phone ringing from the other room broke him from his thoughts. Through the door, he heard Mickey’s muffled voice answering it. Ian quickly relieved himself and walked back out into the hotel room. 

He was met with the sight of a sleep rumbled Mickey stretched out on the bed with an arm thrown over his eyes. Ian hurled himself on to the bed next to the sleepy man, causing both of them to bounce up at the impact. 

Ian grinned back at the glare Mickey shot him. “Morning, sunshine.”

“I’m too tired for your face right now.” Mickey flipped over and tried to bury his head into the pillow. 

Ian, always the opportunist, took Mickey’s naked back as an invitation and climbed on top of him, somewhat imitating their spooning position from earlier, only this time Ian acted more as a blanket.

“Who was on the phone?” Ian mumbled into Mickey’s shoulder blades. He grinned knowingly when he felt the body under him shiver at the contact.

“The front desk bitch saying that the bus was leaving at 10:00.” Mickey croaked, turning his head away out from the pillow. “I think she might have said something about a complimentary breakfast or some shit.”

“Yummmm. Pancakes. That’ll make you happy.” Ian ran his hands up and down Mickey’s sides and pressed kisses on the back of his neck. 

“I’m pretty happy where I’m at right now.” 

Ian’s hands stilled for a second before resuming their movements. 

“Me too.”

\------------

After about thirty more minutes of cuddling, Ian was finally able to drag Mickey out of bed, into the shower, and down to breakfast. Downstairs, they ran into many of the other passengers of their bus, all of whom were scattered around the dining room enjoying the free breakfast. Ian and Mickey split up at the buffet line with Mickey making a beeline for the pancake station and Ian perusing the fruits on the other side.

“I bet you two enjoyed this little impromptu pit stop more than anyone.”

Ian glanced up from the fruit cocktail that he was working on to look at the bus driver. 

“You could say that… doesn’t mean I want it to happen again though. Are we ever going to make it?”

The bus driver took a bite out his banana and started to walk away. “All in due time, my friend. All in due time.”

At that moment, Mickey made his way over to Ian with a plate stacked with banana pancakes. They sat at a table away from everyone else and dug into their respective breakfasts.

“I’m so fucking hungry.” Mickey said through a mouthful of food. “I haven’t really had any food since that fucking McDonald’s yesterday.”

Ian remained quiet and instead concentrated on his mangos. 

“Not that I was really given a chance to finish it in the first place, totally your fault by the way.” Mickey teased. 

Ian allowed a small smile to make its way on to his face but still remained silent. Mickey soon caught on.

“Fine, I did make you a promise didn’t I? Let’s get this talk thing over with.” Mickey paused to shove more food in his mouth. “I know I fucking complain a lot about all your babbling, but I don’t think I’d make it the next day and a half in silence.”

Ian knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he quickly pushed his surprise aside. “You said you were happy this morning.”

“No shit, man.”

“Because of the fucking? Or what?”

“I didn’t hear you complaining about any of it.” Mickey must have noticed how Ian’s shoulders stiffened so he quickly moved on. “I’ve been happy with this for longer than just last night, Gallagher. I guess I just have a shitty way of showing it.”

It was Ian’s turn to say “No shit, man.”

“Ian, I wish I could sit here and tell you that I’m all good and that I’m never going to pull shit like last night again, but knowing me I probably am. I’m always going to be fucking rough around the edges and so are you by the way.”

Ian tried to cut in but was unsuccessful. 

“Like you’ve said multiple times, we’ve only known each other for a day, dude. God knows, we’ve accomplished more in the last day than most fuckers do in a lifetime, but that still doesn’t get rid of the fact that it’s been a day.”

Ian wanted to argue back but found that he really had no reason to. Mickey had a shitty way of going about it, but he was right. A part of Ian had always known Mickey was mostly right, but a larger part of Ian was stubborn and over sensitive. 

Ian remained silent for a few beats before finally sighing. “Just say that you’ll actually talk to me if this all gets to be too much for you again and we’re good.”

“Deal.” 

Ian couldn’t help but laugh as Mickey flicked a piece of pancake at him. 

They’d be fine.

\------------

One day and five hours to go. (Still).


	8. adorable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is short, mushy, and kind of a filler :) hope you still enjoy it though!

It only took about twenty minutes into the new leg of their trip for Mickey, full from his pancake breakfast and snuggly wrapped up in the blanket he'd stolen from the hotel, to pass out against Ian. Ian didn’t mind though; he’d learned that morning that practically nothing felt as good as Mickey pressed up against him. 

In fact, the warm pressure from the body anchored against him caused Ian to also become sleepy. He soon got caught up in the feeling and slumped against Mickey, he too swiftly passing out. 

\------------

It was the sounds of a screaming child that finally caused Ian to jerk away three hours later. It initially took him a few seconds to realize where he was, things finally clicking when he looked down to see Mickey still curled up against him. The older boy was obviously dreaming about something, his eyes fluttering and muttered words falling out of his mouth. Ian couldn’t understand a single thing that Mickey was saying, so he simply smiled and decided to leave him to his dream. 

Within five minutes though, Ian was bored. His usual source of entertainment was now lightly snoring against his shoulder and it took all Ian had in him not to wake the sleeping Mickey. Fortunately he was able to contain himself. He could only imagine what Mickey would be like awakened from a nap. Ian couldn’t help but imagine an angry cat. 

Also, it was kind of nice to see Mickey sleeping peacefully. Yesterday had been a long day that took a lot of the both of them. It made Ian feel good to know that Mickey now maybe felt good enough to unwind and let go. 

Ian, careful not to jostle Mickey, gingerly leaned down to grab his cell phone out of the front pouch of his backpack, hoping to play a game to pass the time. It was then that he noticed he had a missed call and a voicemail. 

_“HI IANNNNNNNN!”_ Debbie’s voice blasted through the speaker. _“It’s Debbie! I just wanted to call and say hi and see where you were. Fiona, Carl, Liam, and I miss you!”_ He heard a bunch of cheers in the background backing up that statement. _“Call us when you can. Love you.”_

Ian shot off a quick text back to Debbie, telling her that he was fine and that he’d call when he got in tomorrow, before listening to the voicemail again. His little sister’s voice brought a calm to him, even though there was a glaringly obvious omission from the list of family members that missed him. 

None of his siblings had been happy with his decision to board a bus and leave Chicago, but Lip took it worse than anyone. He screamed at Ian for two hours straight before just giving up and leaving the Gallagher house. When it later came time for Ian to make his way to the bus station, he didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to his older brother. 

Lip Gallagher was an asshole, but he was also the closest thing Ian had to a best friend. It hurt Ian to think that his brother was out there hating him. He decided to take a chance and send a text to Lip.

_Hey. I’m about halfway to California. It’s been a pretty eventful trip. I have some great stories to tell you._

Ian didn’t expect to hear back from his brother so when his phone vibrated in his lap a few minutes later, he was honestly shocked. 

**Good for you.**

Maybe this had been a mistake. 

_I guess you’re still mad at me._

**Since you’re still being stupid, yes I’m still mad.**

_I’m not stupid, Lip._

**Could have fooled me, Ian.**

Yeah, this had definitely been a mistake. 

Ian tossed his phone on top of his bag and slouched further down into his seat, crossing his arms and scowling. All of his jostling woke up the sleeping man next to him. 

“What’s your problem?” Mickey said quietly, his voice still heavy with sleep.

Ian avoided the questioning and launched into his own. “Did you have a nice nap? What were you dreaming about?”

“So I have to talk about things and shit bugging me, but you don’t? I don’t think so, buddy.” Mikey scolded as he pulled himself into an upright position and stretched his arms out and above his head. 

Ian was a little distracted by the sight. 

“Focus, Gallagher. You’re not going to get any of this,” Mickey gestured up and down to his body, “on this bus any time soon. We already tried that, remember?”

“That was before.” Ian reasoned. “We are more in tune with each other now and besides we’re owed some make-up sex.”

“What was last night then?”

“Technically we were still fighting. I don’t think we officially made up until breakfast, meaning...” 

Something dark flashed across Mickey’s face and he bit his lip suggestively. Though just when Ian thought he had won, Mickey seemingly reeled himself in and returned to the task at hand. 

“Meaning nothing.” Mickey warned before charging on. “What had you so pissy? It better be fucking worth it too. You woke up.”

“You don’t need anymore beauty sleep, Mick. You’re already pretty.” 

Ian had never seen anyone turn beet red so fast in his life that it had to be a world record or something. Mickey attempted to sputter out a few words before he eventually gave up and just scowled at Ian. 

“What’s your problem?” Ian threw Mickey’s original question back at him, smiling brightly.

“Stop that.” Mickey snapped, his brain finally functioning but the blush still firmly intact on his face. 

“Stop what?” Ian tried and failed to bat his eyes innocently.

Mickey pointed to Ian’s face, specifically his lips. “That.”

Ian sighed, the smile dropping from his face. He did ask Mickey to talk to him if he ever had a problem, so why shouldn’t he talk to Mickey? “My brother is a douchebag.”

“Join the club.” Mickey quickly replied.

“Yeah but Lip and I have always been so close. I really can remember only one other fight that’s been this bad.”

“He doesn’t agree with you leaving.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement and Mickey hit the nail right on the head. 

“You could say that.” Ian mumbled. 

“Fuck him, man.” Ian looked up at Mickey, who looked a little angry. “If you two are as fucking close as you say you are then it’ll be fine. 

“You don’t know Lip.” Ian said, still feeling unsure about it all.

“Well this Lip sounds like an asshole then. He’s your fucking family. He won’t be mad at you forever.” 

Ian thought about it, ultimately conceding to what Mickey said. There was nothing he could do about it now anyways.

“What were you dreaming about?” 

Mickey rolled his eyes at Ian’s sad attempt to change the conversation. “None of your business.” 

“So you were dreaming about me then.”

“I never fucking said that.” The blush was working it’s way back onto Mickey’s face.

“You don’t have to, Mickey.” Ian winked. "Don't worry though. Your secret's safe with me. 

\------------

"Best childhood memory?" Ian asked as they shared the tube of Pringles from the night before. 

"You're asking the wrong person."

"You don't have one good memory?" 

He watched as Mickey racked his brain for an answer. 

"When I was nine, my dad went away for about 18 months, so Mandy and I had to move in with our aunt. That was pretty great. 

Mickey simply shrugged his shoulders at Ian's sad face, effectively dismissing his pity. 

"It is what it is, man. Ain't no time for good childhood memories in the Milkovich house of horrors.” He threw a chip at Ian's face . "What about you?"

“One time, Fiona was able to get all of us into the zoo. It was Carl’s 5th birthday and the guy at the ticket counter had this huge crush on her, so he let us sneak in for free. Also, Lip and I were able to swipe some ice cream for everybody. Best day ever.”

Mickey just stared at him for a beat before chuckling. 

“That sounds pretty damn lame, dude.”

Ian’s mouth fell open in disbelief before grabbing the Pringles can out of Mickey’s hands and pelting him with chips. “You’re just jealous.”

Mickey started laughing harder as he shielded himself under his blanket.

\------------

“So what were you dreaming about earlier?”

“Not going to tell you. Besides I thought you already decided that I was dreaming about you.”

“I don’t really know if you were though.” Ian pathetically whined back, pouting in the process. “You could have been dreaming about puppies for all I know.”

“What’s the difference?” Mickey smirked.

Ian glared as though Mickey wasn’t funny, but he could feel the small smile on his face betraying him.

“Tell me.” He tried to sound stern but knew that he failed miserably. 

“No.”

“Okay then… It must have been pretty steamy.”

“Fuck off.” Mickey shot back, no real heat behind his words. “I ain’t having any wet dreams on a bus surrounded by all of these people.”

“I don’t think anyone would notice or care, Mick.” Ian’s eyes lit up as an idea formed in his head. “Let me ask though, just to be sure of course.”

Ian started to lean across the aisle to talk to the woman sitting there. “Excuse me, mam.” Just as he was about to ask his question, Ian was yanked back into his seat and a hand was thrown over his mouth. 

“Shut up.” Mickey hissed in his ear, waving the old woman off. “You’re gonna get me fucking killed one day, Ian Gallagher.”

Ian licked at the hand covering his mouth, grinning from behind it when he saw Mickey’s anger leave and a grin form on his face.

Though it was a beautiful sight, as soon as Mickey pulled his hand away, Ian launched into more questions. “So what was I doing in this steamy dream of yours?”

“Good lord, Gallagher.”

“Was I doing something really sexy?”

“I’m not playing fucking twenty questions with you again.”

“This time we’ll play the real version though and not that bullshit version from earlier.”

“So you admit that you made that stupid game up?”

“I will when you admit that you were having a sexy dream about me.”

Mickey made a face at Ian. “Fine. I was dreaming about you.”

“HA! I knew it!” Ian exclaimed triumphantly. He leaned over to once again say something to the lady next to him. “Mam, did you hear that? He was dreamin-” Once more he was dragged away from her, unable to tell her the great news. 

Ian was practically cackling as Mickey attempted to put him in a headlock before ultimately giving up and just tickling him. 

“You two are adorable.”

Ian felt Mickey instantly let him go. The redhead looked over at the woman next to him, only to see her smiling back. “Thank you.” Ian responded, not really knowing what else to say.

He turned back to Mickey and saw that the older boy was a little stiff. That was unacceptable.

Ian leaned over and nudged Mickey in the ribs and spoke lowly into his ear. “Did you hear that, Mickey? People think we’re cute.”

He saw Mickey’s shoulders relax a little before he whispered back. “I think she said adorable.”

“Even better.”

He reached up and pinched Mickey’s cheeks while saying gibberish in a baby voice. Ian couldn’t even try to stop the smile that formed on his face when Mickey, with bright eyes, pushed him off laughingly.

\------------

24 hours to go.


	9. paper

“I’m bored. Let’s do something.”

Mickey glared as Ian let out a dramatic gasp and clutched a hand to his chest.

“The Great Mickey Milkovich is bored? The Great Mickey Milkovich is trying to initiate something fun to do? Is anyone else hearing this or am I going crazy?” The ginger turned in his seat as if he was going to try and talk to the lady across the aisle again. Mickey put a stop to that real quick. 

“I swear to God, asshole, if you try to talk to that lady one more time about me.” He warned.

“She already thinks we’re adorable, Mick.”

“She won’t be thinking anything close to that after I kick you ass.”

“Yeah right. I’d like to see you try, shortstuff.” 

“Is that a challenge, Gallagher?” Mickey unwittingly puffed out his chest, trying to appear larger.

It didn’t work and Ian looked at him like he was stupid. “We’re on a goddamn bus, Mickey. What are you going to do to me?”

It was that moment that Mickey realized that Ian was right, remembered that he had a whole day left on said bus and that he was still fucking _bored_.

“I’m bored.” He grumbled pathetically. 

“I heard you the first time.” Ian bent down to grab a journal out of his bag. “I know something we can do.”

“We going to write down all of our thoughts and feelings, princess?”

“No. We are going to play M.A.S.H.”

Mickey was confused. “Like the tv show?”

For the second time in a few minutes, Ian looked at him like he was stupid. “Yes because I carry around a game based off a show about the Korean War.”

Mickey threw his hands in the air, exasperated. “How the fuck am I supposed to know, douchebag? You do a lot of stupid shit.”

Ian ignored him and started scribbling things down, occasionally looking up at Mickey and smirking.

After a couple of minutes, he finally declared the game ready to play. 

“Mickey Milkovich, I am about to tell you your future.”

“It’s a fucking piece of paper.”

“A special piece of paper. Now tell me when to stop.” 

Mickey watched as Ian started to draw a spiral at the top of the page. A couple of seconds later, he told him to stop. 

“5. Let’s do this.” Ian started counted down the page, crossing off every fifth item and giggling. When he was done, he had a satisfied smirk on his face. 

“Now make one for me so we can compare when we’re done. Write down six categories and four things in each category.”

Mickey was still thoroughly confused. “What do you mean categories?”

“Just six things. For example: potential partner, when I die, pets, careers. Just stuff like that.”

Mickey, still having no clue what he was really doing, wrote shit down.

“Now draw a circle and I’ll tell you when to stop.” Ian coached him.

Mickey did as he was told and stopped when Ian said so.

“Now start with the M on top and cross out every 8th item. Circle the one that is left in each category.”

Mickey moved down the list and crossed off item after item. When he was done, Ian beamed at him. 

“Ready to know how your life is going to play out?”

Mickey hesitantly nodded, inexplicitly feeling nervous over a stupid piece of paper. 

“You are going to live in a shack with me and we are going to be together until you die at the age of 43. While you’re alive though, you will be a tattoo artist, drive a truck, and have a pet fish. It could be worse.”

Mickey grabbed the piece of paper out of Ian’s hand to look at it. All he saw was a bunch of scribbles and things crossed out. Ian’s name was circled, sandwiched between Barack Obama and the bus driver. The other career options were Walmart cashier, mechanic, and bartender. Also, apparently if he didn’t die at 43, it was either going to be 22, 86, or 65.

“What the fuck am I looking at?”

“Your destiny. What’s mine look like?”

Mickey shoved Ian’s paper into his hands, still too focused on his own paper where Ian’s name and the word _forever_ were both circled. 

“Ew. Why would you put my brother’s name under potential partners? That’s gross.”

“You’re pretty damn weird, Gallagher. It makes sense.” Mickey muttered, still distracted. 

“Fuck you.” Ian laughed. “So apparently I’m going to live in a mansion with you until I die at 77 after being hit by a bus. That’s ironic. Before I die though, I’ll be a stay at home mom with a turtle and a Hummer.” He laughed again. “Of course, you’d put down Hummer.”

“I told you, you’re pretty damn weird.”

“You’re not funny.” Ian huffed at him. “You know what is funny though? According to these papers, we are destined to be together. I hope you don’t mind if we live in my mansion instead of your shack though. I want to live the good life.”

Mickey heard Ian prattle on and on about their “destinies” until he eventually quieted down, most likely catching on to Mickey’s lack of listening and fixation with his MASH paper. Mickey felt Ian sigh next to him before a hand gingerly grabbed the paper out of his hands. 

“It’s just a piece of paper, Mickey, just like you said. No need to freak out.”

“I’m not fucking freaking out.” Mickey snapped as he hustled to snatch the paper back. He glowered when Ian looked back at him disbelievingly. “It’s just… It’s just that this doesn’t sound too bad.”

He saw Ian’s face change from disbelief to shocked then to awed in a matter of seconds before he was able to slide on a poker face. “Oh?”

Mickey rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip. “I mean I could do without living in a shack or dying at 43, but the other stuff ain’t horrible.” The awe was instantly back on Ian’s face. “We’re keeping my fish and getting rid of your turtle though. Those things are gross.”

“That sounds good, Mick.”

\------------

“I’m bored.”

“Find something to do then.” Mickey said, not looking up from the paper on which he was doodling. 

“When you were bored, I came up with something for us to do. You could return the favor.” Ian proclaimed. 

“Nah.” Mickey flipped his pencil over and erased a line that he’d just drawn. 

“What are you doing?” Mickey shoved Ian’s face away when he leaned over to look at his work. “I didn’t know that you could draw.”

“I can’t.” Mickey maintained, though soundly focused on what he was doing.

He felt Ian sneak a peek over his shoulder “You could have fooled me. That’s a pretty good eagle.” Ian leaned down further to rest his head fully on Mickey’s shoulder. Mickey tried to find it in himself to be annoyed but found that he couldn’t. “Fun fact: When I was manic, I wanted to get an eagle tattooed on my ribcage. The guy refused though, said something about me being too high and too young.”

Mickey snickered. “An eagle? That’s pretty lame.”

“I don’t think you have the right to judge me on idiotic tattoos.” Ian reached out to flick at the letters on Mickey’s fingers. Mickey flicked at him right back. “I was still caught up in the idea of the army and patriotism and all that shit. Maybe when you become that tattoo artist like M.A.S.H said, you can hook me up.”

Mickey felt his stomach flutter at the mention of the game they’d played earlier. “Not likely going to happen.”

“Don’t say that.” Ian lightly snapped at him before thumping the notebook. “Draw me.”

Mickey scoffed at the idea. “Fuck off.”

“Please? I won’t watch you. It can be a surprise.” Ian raised his head to rest his chin on Mickey’s shoulder and gave him those stupid Disney eyes. 

Fuck those eyes. “Fine.”

Mickey’s own eyes about blew out of their sockets when he felt Ian’s lips peck him on the cheek. Ian looked a little taken aback by the gesture too but quickly moved on. The ginger bent down and grabbed his phone, holding it up to show Mickey. “I’ll just play a game or something, maybe text my sister.” 

Mickey was still too focused on the feeling of Ian’s lips on his cheek to even care. He mentally kicked himself for acting this way. Ian had been inside of him not even 12 hours ago. A kiss on the cheek meant nothing more or different. At least that’s what Mickey kept telling himself as he concentrated on the paper in front of him. 

The drawing took longer than usual for Mickey to complete as he painstakingly went over every detail, wanting it to be good enough for Ian. 

It didn’t help that he and Ian were doing that stupid “look” thing again. The thing where they would both look when they thought the other wasn’t, only to lock eyes and look away sheepishly. 

Mickey had to look at Ian though as he needed to get everything right. He wanted to make sure that he drew the slightly darker freckle under Ian’s left eye as well as the scar over the right side of his lip. 

A little over an hour later, the drawing was about as good as it was going to get. Mickey felt a sense of dread wash over him as he pulled Ian’s attention away from Candy Crush. 

“Dude, took you long enough.”

“Are you saying you would have been okay with a stick figure, jackass?” Mickey shot back, letting his nerves get the best of him.

Ian’s eyes widened slightly and he threw his hands up defensively. “Easy there, Van Gogh.” He lowered his hands and spoke softly. ”I’m sure it’s great. Let me see it.”

Mickey timidly handed the paper over to Ian then quickly turned away, not wanting to see his initial reaction. All he heard was silence, but he forced himself not to look at Ian’s face. 

Unexpectedly though, he was spun around and Ian’s lips were mashed together with his own. Just as Mickey started to allow himself to get lost in the kiss, Ian tore himself away, a brilliant smile firmly on his face.

“Mickey. Mickey. _Mickeyyyy_.” Ian kept muttering, eyes flashing down to the drawing and then back up to Mickey’s. “This is so fucking good.” 

“Shut up.”

“No. This is really good. _You_ are really good” Ian stared down at the drawing for a few more seconds and then looked up at Mickey. “Has nobody ever told you that before?”

Mickey could feel his lip cracking from where he was biting it so hard. “I’ve never really drawn anything for anyone, so no.”

“Really?”

“I think one time when I was like seven, I drew Mandy a butterfly. I’m pretty sure she laughed at it and then threw it at my head.” Mickey bit his lip even harder.

Ian leaned forward and gently grabbed Mickey’s lip out from under his teeth, swiping his thumb along it in the process. “Well, I’m telling you that this is great. See, look.”

He held the drawing up next to his face and smiled at Mickey. Mickey could only see one thing that wasn’t absolute shit and it certainly wasn’t the piece of paper. 

“Stop it.” Mickey pleaded, thoroughly embarrassed. 

Ian fortunately relented. “Fine, but just know that you are going to be drawing all sorts of stuff for me for now on… like my own little carnival booth person or something.”

“Would that make you the clown, Bozo?”

\------------

“Do you want to see a magic trick?”

“You really are a clown, aren’t you?” 

Ian glowered at Mickey. “I’m about to blow your mind.” He yanked the journal out of Mickey’s hand and tore a couple of sheets of paper out of it. “Close your eyes. I need to prepare and practice.”

Mickey raised his eyebrows suggestively. “Am I going to like this trick, Gallagher?” He leered at the redhead. The done look on Ian’s face made him laugh and finally shut his eyes. “Fine, be boring.” 

He felt Ian fumble around next to him for a few minutes before he was given the all clear. Mickey opened his eyes to see Ian holding up a single sheet of paper, looking proud of himself.

“I am going to tear this paper up into strips and then magically put it back together.” Ian proclaimed, ripping the paper up into shreds. 

“I’ve seen this before.”

Mickey watched as the proud look on Ian’s face fell away and was replaced with anger. “What do you mean you’ve seen this before?”

“Iggy used to do magic shit all the time. He showed me how to do it once.”

Ian deflated considerably and Mickey felt a little bad for ruining his show.

“I didn’t say you had to stop. Iggy was always really bad anyways, you’ll probably be better than him.”

That seemed to spark Ian back up and he went back to shredding the paper in front of him. 

“Now that I’ve shredded the paper, I am going to wad it up. When I open the ball, the paper will magically be back together.” Ian proceeded to scrunch the paper up into a ball and held it up for Mickey to see. 

The trick was fairly simple. The magician has two sets of paper with him. One intact piece that is already rolled up into a ball and hidden and another piece of paper that is shredded for the audience to see. Once the shredded pieces are balled up, the magician sneakily switches the two paper balls, unraveling the original intact paper for the audience to “oh and ah” at. 

Things weren’t that easy for Ian. Mickey observed as Ian went to exchange the ball in his hand with the hidden one. It was almost tragic. The hidden ball flew out of its hiding place, falling onto the floor. The shredded ball practically disintegrated in the process, sending strips of paper all over Ian’s lap. 

Mickey howled in laughter as he watched Ian’s magic trick fall apart in front of him. “Encore. Encore. Encore.” He was only able to calm down slightly when he saw Ian’s discouraged face. 

“Carl made it look so easy.” Ian pouted, throwing the strips at him. 

“That was fucking smooth, Houdini.” Mickey said sarcastically, flinging strips of paper back at Ian.

“You’ve seen how smooth I can be.”

“With your dick maybe. That was just fucking sad.”

\------------

20 hours to go.


	10. date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter oozes cheese plus about 200 words of smut towards the middle. y'all I don't even know what i'm doing anymore.

_“Okay y’all, It’s about seven o’clock and we are pulling up to our last planned pit stop. Since we are going to get to San Diego tomorrow around three in the afternoon instead of seven in the morning as originally planned, we might make one more stop in the morning. Make this one count though, just in case.”_

Mickey didn’t miss the leer Ian sent his way after the announcement. 

“Keep your dick in your pants. I need something to eat first.”

“Me.”

Mickey blinked at him and then cringed. “You’re gross.” 

“How would you know?” The leer was back and Ian leaned in closer.

Mickey shoved Ian’s face away. “Food first, loser.”

\------------

“I’ll take a #4 with extra cheese, please.” Mickey looked away from the menu and motioned to Ian. “What do you want, man?”

“I’ll have the special.” Ian glanced up at the waitress. “Mine will be on a separate tab, thank you.”

Mickey waved the statement off. “Nah, Gallagher. I got it, I’ll pay for both.”

He felt stupid when Ian’s eyes sparkled and his face broke out into that stupid grin. “This is officially a date.”

“No, it’s not. It’s two dudes eating a meal together.” Mickey warned. 

“Two dudes who also happen to be fucking.” Ian mused. “It’s totally a date. You are paying for my meal, you might get a little something something after this-”

“A little something something? Really, Ian?”

“Yes. A little something something.” Ian confirmed. “And then we’ll spend the night together.”

“On a bus.” Mickey reminded.

“You’re ruining the idea of our first date, Milkovich.” Ian whined while throwing an ice cube at Mickey.

“It’s not a date and even if it was, ain’t we doing all of this shit backwards?”

“Mickey, we met yesterday. It’s not even backwards; it’s upside down.” 

The food arrived soon after and Ian immediately leaned over and stole a handful of Mickey’s fries. 

“Do that again and you won’t make it to California.” Mickey advised. Ian simply winked at him and shoved as many fries as he could in his mouth. “That’s so fucking hot, Ian. You are doing a really good job at making me want that “something something” you were harping about earlier.” He said to the redhead sarcastically. 

Ian threw him another wink and hooked his ankle around Mickey’s under the table. The two ate their meal in peace until Ian, of course, broke the silence.

“I feel like we’ve already done all of the usual first date conversation. We might have to break all of the rules in a second, start talking about politics and religion or some shit.”

“What the fuck do you know about politics or religion?”

“Nothing… so are we just going to sit here in silence?”

Mickey thought about it for a second. “What were you like as a kid?”

Ian looked amazed at the fact that Mickey actually initiated a question before launching into his answer. “Small, wild curly hair, basically one giant freckle. Fiona said that Lip and I were always wandering off and doing weird shit.”

Mickey sat back and imagined a tiny Ian, with thousands of freckles and a mop of red hair, running around causing trouble. The thought made him smile.

“What about you?” Ian questioned.

“Tiny and angry.”

“So basically the same as you are now?” 

Mickey delivered a swift kick to Ian’s shine under the table and then ignored Ian, returning to the food in front of him.

Eventually, he felt Ian’s foot once again wrap around his ankle before moving higher up his leg. When the foot reached the inside of his thigh, Ian leaned forward and whispered, “Don’t worry. I like you just the way you are.”

Ian’s foot moved about an inch higher and started lightly tracing patterns on the inside of Mickey’s thigh.

“I told you I wanted to eat first, Ian.” Mickey whispered harshly, his brain barely functioning and the grip on his fork tightening. When had the fucker taken his shoes off? It seemed like a sneak attack.

“No one is stopping you, Mick.” Ian replied conversationally, innocently taking a bite out of his own meal while he continued to stroke Mickey with his foot. “So, how do you feel about sports?”

Mickey looked at the man in front of him in bewilderment. Ian had to be some kind of devil. “Fuck the Cubs.” He knew he sounded wrecked, but Mickey was not going to let Ian win. “Soxs all the way.”

“I completely agree with you. Maybe we can go to a Padres game for our second date.” Ian rubbed a little higher and harder to emphasize his point. Mickey was losing his mind.

He slammed his hands down on top of the table before grabbing his wallet out of his pocket and pulling some money out. He was practically done with his food anyways. Mickey then grabbed Ian’s hand and dragged him out of the booth and out the door, Ian laughing wildly behind him. He felt Ian press closer to his back and the taller man’s breath on his neck. “Where are you taking me, tough guy?”

Mickey had no clue; he just knew that he needed to get there fast. Ian must have picked up on his lack of direction because he soon took charge and directed them towards around the diner. They both caught sight of any alleyway behind the restaurant and quickly moved in that direction. 

Surrounded by trash but not caring, Mickey threw Ian up against the wall and kissed him hard. Eventually, his lips moved down Ian’s neck, his hands moving down as well to make quick work of the button and zipper on Ian’s pants. 

“How did we go from a hotel room to this?” Ian panted from above him, his hands following Mickey’s direction and pulling at the fastenings on the shorter man’s jeans. Mickey laughed into Ian’s neck before sucking harder, hoping to leave a mark for all to see. “We don’t have much time.”

Fortunately, they made quick work of pushing their jeans down past their thighs before leaning forward and pushing their hips together. Both let out small whimpers and heavy pants as their cocks dragged against each other. A few grinds later and Mickey had about lost all sense of reality. With his hand, he reached down to work Ian’s cock, moaning pathetically as Ian did the same for him. 

Neither lasted much longer, both still reeling from the tension of the under the table rub down. Ian and Mickey fell apart at the same time with one last twist of the wrist, coming hard in hands and gasping names into necks. For a few minutes, they stood in the empty aisle way, leaning against each other and breathing heavily.

Mickey was the first to pull away. “Jesus Christ, man.” 

“I thought we decided that we weren’t supposed to talk about religion on the first date.” Ian joked back, though sounding just as dazed as Mickey.

\------------

“I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t abandoned us at one of these pit stops.” Ian mumbled to Mickey as they spotted the bus driver next to the bus, waving at them as he waited for passengers to reboard. 

Mickey didn’t respond, too consumed in his thoughts about the last hour. He wasn’t freaking out. He was not freaking out. His thoughts were calm and happy. His thoughts were about Ian. 

He was quickly shaken from his thoughts as they neared the bus and were about to get on. Before Ian could make his way on to the Greyhound, Mickey yanked him backwards, pushed him up against the side and planted a slow, tender, and confident kiss on a stunned Ian. 

He patted Ian’s cheek lightly as he pulled away and smirked. “Thanks for a fucking great first date, Ian Gallagher.”

\------------

“You’re a pretty swell guy, Mickey Milkovich.”

Mickey attempted to hide his blush at Ian’s dopey face by flipping him off. “Stop mooning over me and take your pills, asshole.”

Ian did as he was told before continuing his assessment. “You’re one cool cat, Mickey Milkovich.”

“What are you, eighty?”

“I was going to say sweet, but I figured that wouldn’t go over so well.”

Mickey scowled, confirming Ian’s suspicions. “I ain’t sweet, bitch.”

“You are a gentleman, Mickey Milkovich.” Ian tried again.

“You need to shut the hell up, Ian Gallagher.”

“Buying my meal, pleasuring me under the stars, walking me home, kissing the hell out of me.”

Mickey couldn’t help but smile. “Pleasuring you under the stars? You’re so damn gay, man.”

“So are you… unless this is all an elaborate scheme.” Ian’s eyes widened at the concept. “This is some sort of long con isn’t it? I should have known, you sly dog.”

“You caught me, Gallagher.” Mickey deadpanned. 

“You are a pretty good actor, Mickey Milkovich. All those moans you made when my dick was up your ass really had me fooled.” 

“You calling me gay?” Mickey said in attempt to keep the charade going, though his face was burning red. 

“Oh no, not at all; not a big scary man like you.” Ian exclaimed, adopting a high pitch voice in the process. “Just tell me, sir, what I could possibly have that would make you want to con me?” Ian fanned himself dramatically.

“Goddamn drama queen. You sure that you’re not the actor here?”

“I’m pretty good, right? That’s probably a reason my finger told me to move to California.”

\------------ 

“Mickey.”

“I’m trying to sleep.”

“Mickey.”

“Gallagher, I’m trying to sleep.”

“Mickey.”

“Ian.”

“Do you realize that we fooled around and have been back on this bus for three hours and neither of us has freaked out?”

“You’re about to see a freak out.”

“Mickey, we are maturing!”

“Do you ever shut up?”

\------------

16 hours to go.


	11. sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this out while I had a working computer and internet. this starts with Ian's POV then Mickey's then Ian's again. also horny Ian makes an reappearance in the middle of the chapter, watch out he's dangerous.
> 
> ps. i changed all of the chapter titles. all of the day ones were starting to bug me.

Mickey Milkovich had nice hands. They were small, rough, and vulgar, much like the man they were attached to, but they were nice.

Ian was kind of obsessed with them.

Mickey had once again abandoned him in favor of sleep, so Ian was left with nothing to do. That was until he noticed Mickey's hand just sitting on his thigh, practically inviting Ian to hold it. They had held hands earlier in the day and Ian wanted to do it again.

So here Ian sat, holding the hand of Mickey Milkovich, his...

Boyfriend? Too soon.

Lover? Too gross.

Partner? Too formal.

Friend with benefits? Not enough.

So here Ian sat, holding the hand of Mickey Milkovich, his... something.

\---

Ian Gallagher had always had weird dreams. For a long time, he had a recurring dream where a giant chicken destroyed the Southside, killing everyone in town except for Ian. The giant chicken plagued him for years. Lip would always try to psychoanalyze him about it, spewing crap like the chicken represented Monica or some shit. Okay, Lip, sure.

When he was first bipolar, undiagnosed, and on top of the little sleep he got, he had dreams that felt like a drug trip. At the time, _every day_ felt like a LSD trip, but the dreams were worse. If colors seemed stronger and brighter during the day, then at night they were practically exploding. There were no large farm animals chasing him; Ian was chasing something of his own.

Now his dreams were simply random. Sometimes he was an eggplant, other times he was an ant. If it was strange, Ian had probably been it or experienced it in a dream.

Tonight was different though. Tonight was the first night Mickey Milkovich was the star of Ian's dream... and it wasn't weird; it was domestic.

Ian and Mickey sitting at their kitchen table, drinking coffee; Ian and Mickey lounging around on the couch, playing video games; Ian and Mickey fooling around on some beach in California. Ian and Mickey, Ian and Mickey, _Ian and Mickey._

Ian liked the sound of it.

It was pretty damn perfect.

\------------

Mickey Milkovich rarely ever had dreams; he always had nightmares. Throughout his childhood, the horrors of his real life would carry over and haunt him during the night. Terry was usually a recurring figure that Mickey couldn't escape, awake or asleep. 

This trip though had changed things. Terry was officially out of his life and Mickey had dreams about something other than his psychotic father.

He had dreams about Ian.

The stupid fucker had been right earlier when he confronted Mickey about having a steamy dream about him. It had been steamy and it had featured Ian fucking Mickey in the bus bathroom. (They really needed to try that again.)

The dream he had just woken up from had been a little different. It wasn't steamy; it was homely.

Mickey and Ian going to the fucking grocery store; Mickey and Ian visiting Mandy and going to a concert; Mickey and Ian adopting a dog. Mickey and Ian, Mickey and Ian, _Mickey and Ian._

Mickey didn't even feel that freaked out by it.

\---

Ian Gallagher had nice hands. They were big, gangly, and sturdy, much like the man they were attached to, but they were nice.

Mickey was kind of obsessed with them.

He had woken up from his nap to the feeling of a giant, warm hand encasing his. Mickey had never held hands with anyone before Ian and it was a weird feeling.

He liked it though and embraced the weird, holding on tighter. 

\------------

For the second time that trip, Ian woke up to his hand being held by Mickey. Hopefully this would become a regular thing.

"Hi." Ian whispered, taking note of the darkness and silence of the bus. He also noted how Mickey didn't even try to pull his hand away from him this time.

"How'd you sleep?"

"As well as I could; the hotel blanket really helped. What time is it?"

"About one." Mickey supplied quietly, leaning down to rest his head against Ian's. "It's impossible to sleep on this fucking thing."

"I had a dream about you." Ian said in a soft voice. "It wasn't as steamy as yours probably was though."

Mickey pinched his thigh under the blanket. "I didn't have a steamy dream about you, dick."

"We've already had this argument." Ian squeezed Mickey's hand. "Anyways, in one of them we were just fooling around on some beach, which by the way, dream me does not recommend hummers on the beach. Mouthful of sand and everything."

Mickey pulled his head off of Ian's and gave him an astonished look. "You have vivid fucking dreams."

Ian let out a small chuckle and cuddled closer to Mickey. "You have no idea. What about you?"

"My dream was about a dog."

"That's lame."

"We don't all dream about a jizz/sand cocktail in our mouths."

Ian inched their joined hands up Mickey's thigh under the blanket. "Don't knock it until you've tried it."

Mickey shifted in his seat but still made no movement to pull his hand away. "What's gotten into you tonight, man?"

"I don't know." Ian muttered against Mickey's neck, placing a light kiss on it. He did know, his dreams had made him hot.

Ian moved their hands even higher and brushed their fingers against Mickey's zipper. He felt Mickey gasp and his shoulders stiffen. "Do you want me to stop?"

"We're on a bus, Ian." Mickey whispered through clenched teeth. "People are sleeping all around us."

"Makes it more fun."

Ian pulled his hand out of its hold and moved to unbutton the button and pull the zipper of Mickey's jeans down. He gave a cautious look around to make sure no one was watching them before shifting his hand to rub Mickey's cock through his boxers.

Mickey's hand shot up to grab Ian's wrist, but he didn't stop Ian's ministrations. Ian returned his face to the column of Mickey's neck and continued to place delicate kisses along it, grinning and biting down lightly as he heard Mickey whimper softly. Ian subtly moved inside the older man's boxers before frantically moving his hand over Mickey's heated flesh.

Ian had a feeling Mickey wasn't going to last long. Mickey's head was thrown back in his seat and every so often he let out a small moan or a hitched breath. He continued to work Mickey's cock for a few minutes, nipping at his neck in the process. He soon felt Mickey's body start to shake and watched as the smaller man's mouth fell open and he came with a choke.

The redhead casually pulled his hand out of Mickey's pants and wiped it on the corner of the blanket, still grinning into the neck of a debauched Mickey.

"You," Mickey let out a shaky sigh, "are going to be the fucking death of me."

\------------

"Tell me a story."

"You just jerked me off in public and now you want me to tell you a bedtime story? You're a fucking weirdo."

"It's two in the morning; I can't sleep. Tell me a goddamn story." Ian pleaded. 

"No."

"I'll help you start. Once upon a time..." He started, hoping Mickey would complete the sentence.

"Once upon a time there was a dick named Ian who needed to shut up, leave me alone, and go to sleep." Mickey finished tiredly but with no real heat in his voice.

"You're no fun. If I tell you one, will you tell me one?" Ian asked.

"Sure." Mickey replied sarcastically.

"Once upon a time..." Ian paused for a second to think. "Once upon a time there was a prince named Mickey." He heard Mickey start to grumble against him, but he charged on. "Prince Mickey was the son of the evil King Terry, ruler of all horrible things. The prince was very handsome, all the people of the land thought so, but due to his upbringing he was very grumpy and sad."

Mickey huffed.

"One sunny day, Prince Mickey was riding his horse through the forest when he stumbled upon a docked ship. He ventured onto it where he discovered a gorgeous red bearded pirate named Clayton."

"Clayton?"

"It's my middle name." Ian answered quickly before continuing his story. "Prince Mickey confronted the pirate about being on the King's land, but Clayton dazzled him with a smile and put the prince under a spell."

Mickey huffed again.

"Prince Mickey woke up from the spell hours later to find himself at sea with Clayton, who had seemingly kidnapped him. The prince was very mad and started to fight Clayton, but he lost due to Clayton's strength and overall greatness."

Mickey started to object, but Ian cut him off.

"My story, I'm the badass." Ian shushed him and continued. "Anyways, after Clayton subdued Prince Mickey, he explained that he had actually come to the kingdom to save the prince from his evil father. Clayton had heard the stories about the tyrannical king and knew that he had to rescue Prince Mickey. Prince Mickey was so grateful to his savior that he agreed to sail around the world with Ian- I mean Clayton. They then had hot sex and lived happily ever after. The end."

It was quiet between the two men for a moment before Mickey chuckled. "You're such a sap." He laughed louder when Ian elbowed him in the ribs. "I wouldn't be mad hearing more about the hot sex though. You skipped over the best part."

"Your turn." Ian yawned. 

He was surprised when Mickey started telling his story without protest.

"I'm not starting with once upon a time. Jeez, this is so lame. This one time..."

"Same thing." Ian mumbled tiredly against Mickey's shoulder, starting to feel sleepy again.

"Fuck off." Mickey remained quiet for a moment. "In a world..."

"Oh my god, that's worse."

Mickey let out a frustrated sigh. "Can I tell my story or what?" Ian said nothing. "Okay, there was this guy named Ian. He was pretty annoying but had a dick that wouldn't quit, so he wasn't _that_ bad. Ian spent his days rescuing kittens from trees and helping old broads across the street or whatever else type of shit you boy scouts do."

"I was never a boy scout, Mick."

"My story." Mickey mimicked Ian from earlier. His story continued, but Ian missed it as he soon drifted off to the soothing sound of Mickey's voice.

\-----------

Ian awoke with a jolt. 

"You know it's pretty damn rude to fall asleep in the middle of a story that you begged for."

"I didn't fucking beg." Ian slurred sleepily as he rubbed his face against Mickey's arm like a cat. "How long was I out for?"

"About ten minutes." Mickey answered. "I was just getting to the good part of my story too."

"Fuck. That's all? Ten minutes?" Ian stopped. "What good part of the story?" he asked curiously, unable to help himself.

Mickey just raised an eyebrow suggestively.

Ian grinned up at him. "Well go ahead. I'm all ears and ready to listen."

Mickey shook his head. "Nah. I'm not going to share with someone that will probably just pass out in the middle it it."

"Make it good and maybe I'll stay awake then."

Through the darkness of the bus, Mickey's face flushed at the challenge. "I'm not talking dirty to you, man."

"How about you show me instead?"

"You're a horn dog, Gallagher. You were tired like one minute ago." Mickey tried to say nonchalantly, but Ian noticed the way his eyes darkened at the thought.

"Maybe I'm just pent up. Maybe that's why I can't sleep." Ian whispered.

"Like you haven't gotten it three times in the last day." Mickey muttered back, though his eyes grew even wider and darker.

"Like you don't want to have another go at bus bathroom sex."

\------------

"Okay, we need to think about this."

"We're not diffusing a bomb, Ian. It's 2:30 in the morning and I'm just trying to get laid."

"Lower your voice. We have to be quiet."

"Says the loudest fucker I know."

Ian stared at Mickey contemplatively. "Fucker as in a person in general? Or fucker as in the person who fucks you?"

Mickey gave him a epic eye roll, pushed Ian down onto the toilet, and attempted to straddle him. "Let's do this fucking thing."

Ian wasted no more time and leaned forward to kiss Mickey hungrily.

\------------

Bus bathroom sex was no longer a bust.

\------------

12 hours to go.


	12. names

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry this took so long. i had no idea what to write. two good notes though: i know what i am going to write in the next chapter so it shouldn't take as long and also the epilogue is at 5000 words right now with no end in sight.
> 
> thanks for reading! tell me what you think!

Feeling relaxed and a tad blissed out, Mickey and Ian were finally able to get some sleep.

\------------

8 hours to go.

\------------

“Yo, Ginge!” 

Ian waved Mickey ahead into the restaurant without him before turning around and making his way back towards the bus.

“You know, I feel like we should know each other’s names by now.” Ian mused as he came to a stop in front of his favorite bus driver.

The driver smirked at him. “Maybe, but I kind of don’t want to know the name of the guy who had sex in the bathroom of my bus.” His smirk grew at Ian’s dumbstruck face. “I know about everything and everyone on that bus, Red. You horn dogs couldn’t wait just a few more hours?” The bus driver cackled louder as he started to walk away. “Good for you though, Ian Gallagher! Get some while you can.”

Ian blinked at him, speechless.

“My name’s Henry by the way!”

\------------

“Jeez, Mickey. You couldn’t wait one minute?”

Mickey barely looked up from his plate as he stuffed more eggs in his mouth. “It was more like five, asshole. Maybe if you’d stopped flirting with that bus driver for so fucking long, you could be eating too.”

“You jealous, Mick?” Ian questioned casually as he leaned over to steal a piece of hash brown from Mickey’s plate, only to be met by a fork to the hand.

“What the hell? Did you just hiss at me… and then stab me?” Ian asked incredulously.

Mickey simply shrugged. “I’m hungry. Get your own.”

“You’re like a vicious alley cat, man.” Ian waved the waitress over. “Hi, can I have the same thing that he’s having and some coffee? I feel like I’m going to need it if I’m going to be around this kid all day.” He smiled charmingly at the woman when she laughed and poured him a cup. 

“You do that with everyone?” Mickey gruffed at Ian as the smitten waitress walked away.

“Do what?” Ian replied innocently, staring at Mickey and trying to hide his grin over the rim of his coffee mug.

Mickey grunted. “Flirt or charm people or whatever.”

“You jealous?” Ian asked again, unable to even try and hide his grin this time.The older man threw a piece of toast at Ian but remained quiet. “Mickey, boobs and vaginas confuse the hell out of me. You have nothing to worry about.” 

Just then the waitress returned with his food. “Thank you, darling.” Ian said in a horrible attempt at a southern accent. If he’d had a hat, he probably would have tipped it. He simply winked at her instead. The waitress giggled anyway before scampering away, turning back occasionally to look at Ian with a smile. 

“That’s gross.” 

Ian ignored Mickey in favor of his breakfast. After a few bites, he looked up contemplatively. “Maybe she’ll give me her number? Maybe she’ll switch places with you on the bus. I could go to California with her instead of you.” Mickey threw another piece of toast at Ian. “You’re wasting your food.” Ian chided. “You’re grouchy this morning.”

“I’m not grouchy.”

“Do we have to bicker about everything, Mickey?”

“I’m not bickering.”

“Yes you are.”

“No, I’m not.” 

“Mickey, we are bickering right now.” Ian said exasperatedly as he noticed them fall into their usual pattern.

“No, we’re-” Mickey stopped himself and threw another piece of bread at Ian instead. Ian chucked it right back at him. 

“I’m not a bird. Stop throwing food at me.”

“I’m sorry.” Mickey muttered. Ian stayed silent and waited for him to continue. “I’m tired, my back hurts, we are never fucking getting to California.”

“It’s only eight more hours. I think you can make it.” Ian replied gently. “Do you want a rub and tug?” 

Mickey cracked a small smile before a second later laughing loudly. “You really can’t get enough of me, can you?”

\------------

“I can’t believe she gave you her fucking number.”

“You didn’t have to growl at her, asshole.” Ian knocked his shoulder against Mickey’s as they made their way back to their ride. “You might as well have lifted your leg and marked me.” Ian snickered at Mickey’s dirty look. “Oh look, there’s Henry. Try to control your jealousy.”

“What the fucks a Henry?”

“Hello boys. I hope y’all spent this time grabbing a bite to eat and not off pawing each other. It would be rather unfortunate if one of you died because y’all would rather do the boom-boom instead of nourish your bodies.” Henry, the bus driver, drawled as he ushered them on to the bus. “That would be kind of messy to explain in the paperwork.” Ian pushed forward a gaping Mickey, trying hard to herd him back to their seats. “Don’t look at me like that, young man. Full support here, no worries, but like I told Red there, just keep it out of my bathroom.” 

\------------

“Want to make out?”

Mickey looked at him askance. “No.” 

“Why not? You’ve kissed me on here before!” Ian let out a loud groan and threw his head back against the seat dramatically when Mickey just raised an eyebrow at him. “We need to do something to pass the time, Mickey. I can’t just sit here in silence for seven more hours.”

“God forbid you stay quiet for more than a few minutes.”

“You are a grumpy old man today.”

“I’m not grumpy. I’m tir-”  
“Tired. Yes, I know. I heard you earlier. Go back to sleep then.” 

Mickey did just that and Ian was left to be bored by himself. He fumbled with his phone for a little bit, texting Debbie and Carl. He beat a few levels of Candy Crush. He made a to do list of things he needed to get done in San Diego. He watched Mickey sleep for awhile. He went to the bathroom. 

As he was walking back from the bathroom, he was stopped by a woman. 

“Hi! You’re friends with that guy who had the panic attack in the bathroom yesterday, right? How is he doing?” The woman asked. “He seemed to be having kind of a rough time.”

Ian squinted at the woman, suddenly placing her as the woman from the breakdown the day before. “Umm yeah. He seems to be doing better. Thanks for asking.” He started to walk away again but quickly turned back after having a thought. “Did he say anything to you about what was going on with him?”

The woman laughed. “Nah, I’m pretty sure he was going to tell me to fuck off. I tried to tell him that he could talk to me, but he didn’t seem too into that.” 

“That sounds like Mickey.” Ian mumbled. 

The woman stuck out her hand for Ian to shake. “I’m Jenny by the way.” 

“Ian.” 

“Is this Mickey guy your boyfriend?”

Ian reared back and said nothing. 

Jenny caught on quickly. “My god, I’m so sorry. My mom always says that I’m too nosy for my own good, not that she’s one to talk. I totally get it from her. Anyway, ignore me and my awkward questions.”

“No. Ummm…” Ian stuttered. “It’s fine. I can be pretty nosy too.” He started to stutter again. “I just don’t really know how to answer that.”

“Oh, it’s one of those situations.” Jenny said understandably. “We’ve all been there, honey. Do you want to talk about it?”

Ian looked around, a little unsure. He did want to talk about it but not to this stranger. He wanted to talk to Mickey, but he was still scared. 

Jenny would have to do for now.

“Can I sit?”

\------------

“So you are telling me that you met Mickey yesterday when you boarded the bus and now you are falling in love with him?” Jenny said with wide eyes as she recited his story back to him.

“Love might be taking it a little too far.” Ian muttered under his breath.

“Who cares? You get to sit next to your Prince Charming and all I have is an empty seat and my laptop.” 

Ian laughed for the first time. “He’s no Prince Charming.”

“Well you make it sound like he is.” Jenny said wistfully. “So what is the problem here?”

“I don’t even know.” Ian whined and ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t expect any of this. I thought I would sit on this bus for two days and then fumble my way through San Diego. I didn’t know I would meet and fall for this great guy. I’ve known him for a two days. That’s nothing!” 

“Has he said anything to you about any of this?”

“No, I mean not since after that meltdown he had with you. I thought we had squashed all of this heavy talk and were just tentatively moving on, but now I guess it’s my turn to start freaking out over things.” Ian huffed, growing more and more frustrated with himself. “I didn’t even know any of this was really bothering me until you stopped me to ask how he was doing.”

“Ian.” Jenny placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “It sounds like he really likes you.” 

Ian glanced at Jenny suspiciously but didn’t say anything. 

“Ian, the man you have been talking about this whole time sounds like a completely different man than the one I had the pleasure of talking to. I believe that if you are able to get anything out of Mickey then he must really like you.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better.” Ian gruffed, though his chest did feel a tad lighter. 

“Maybe.” Jenny sent him a small comforting smile. “ You just need to talk him about all of this. You saw what keeping it in did to Mickey. Don’t have another blow up. I don’t think I have anymore paper bags for people to hyperventilate in.” 

“You’re right, you’re right…. last time didn’t end all that badly though.” Ian said slyly.

Jenny let out a loud laugh and smacked him on the arm. “I still can’t believe that you have banged some guy you met on a bus yesterday four times.” 

“Three… and a half.”

“Stop. You could have said once and I’d still be jealous.” She looked at Ian and noticed the still hesitant look on his face. “What else is it?”

“Huh?”

“There is still something that’s bothering you.”

“I just…” Ian paused to think. “I just want this to work out, you know? I just want us to get off this bus and it be the same or better even. I just want more. I just want-” He cut himself off, feeling stupid.

“Keep going.” Jenny prodded. 

“I had this crazy idea that maybe we could move in together when we got to California. Neither of us have a lot of money, neither of us know anyone else in the city.” He stopped when he saw the look on Jenny’s face. “You think I’m being dumb or too intense. Ugh, I know. I always jump in head first without thinking.”

“Whoa whoa, slugger. I didn’t say anything. I actually don’t think it sounds like a bad idea, but I’m not the one you should be talking to about this.”

\------------

“... so I got up to clean between her legs and all of a sudden she shoots up and says in the the sweetest voice. ‘Oh honey, you don’t have to clean down there. It’s not like I’m getting any tonight anyways.’”

Ian laughed loudly as Jenny continued to tell him nursing horror stories. He continued to listen until he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. 

**did you fall into the toilet, firecrotch?**

“Ah, I know that smile. Go running back to your loverboy.” Jenny teased as she poked Ian playfully in the ribs. “Good luck.”

Ian started to stand up before he turned back to the nurse. “Thank you. You have been really nice to talk to.”

“Keep me posted. You know where I’ll be.”

\------------

“Hey.” Ian said softly as he slid back into his seat next to Mickey.

“Hey.” Mickey replied just as softly before clearing his throat, returning his voice back to normal. “You get locked in the bathroom?”

“Nah, Henry decided to break his own no sex on the bus rule, so we were back there getting it on. He got someone else to drive the bus and everything. The things that man will do for me; how romantic.”

Mickey grinned at him. “You’re such a dick, man.”

\------------

Though feeling marginally better after his conversation with Jenny, Ian could feel that the amount of time he had to talk to Mickey about moving in together upon their arrival to California was dwindling. 

He wasn't necessarily nervous to ask. He’d come up with the idea about five hours into the trip, so if anything he was a little more confident than he had been then. Mickey Milkovich was an enigma though, so Ian was still a little unsure about how he would react.

Jenny was right though. It was obvious that Mickey felt something towards Ian. Ian knew that he was good at sex, but he also knew that this thing with Mickey was more than that. Anyone else would have switched seats eons ago.

All Ian could do was ask and if it blew up in his face, so be it. They would move on, maybe things wouldn't change that much. It wouldn't be _that_ devastating.

At least that’s what Ian kept telling himself.

\------------

4 hours to go.


	13. california

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just posted this but I posted the wrong version so I deleted it and here it is again. I'm sorry.
> 
> only the epilogue to go!

There were many ways to tell that something was bothering Ian Gallagher.

1\. He stopped talking. If there was one thing Mickey had learned about Ian since boarding the bus, it was that the kid was chatty. He never shut up. So when Ian went quiet, it was easy to tell that something was amiss. 

2\. He got fidgety. Ian would look at Mickey, open his mouth to say something, shut it, start twitching. Look, start, stop, twitch. Over and over again. Mickey was starting to get motion sickness. 

3\. He played with his fingernails. Mickey was surprised they weren’t bloody nubs at this point.

4\. Mickey could just tell. He learned a few things about reading people growing up in the Chicago Southside.

He’d give Ian thirty more minutes to tell him what was going on before Mickey would bite the bullet and ask him himself.

\------------

The thirty minutes went by quickly with no word from Ian, so Mickey took matters into his own hands.

“Spit it out, Gallagher.” Subtle, Milkovich.

Ian looked up from his fingers and swiveled his face towards Mickey. “Huh?”

“You’ve been wanting to say something to me for the last hour. Stop being such a pussy and tell me.”

Ian’s face flushed and his eyes widened before he fixed his face. “I’m pregnant?” He joked lamely.

Mickey decided to play along for now. He’d let Ian work up to it. “Who’s the dad?” 

Ian seemed grateful for the distraction. “Hopefully you, but I don’t really know. I’ve been kind of busy lately if you know what I mean.”

“Really?” Mickey smirked.

“Sure, you know there is you, that guy near the front in the purple shirt, that old man in the back with the sexy beard. I might have to go on Maury. He’s the one that does the paternity testing right? Or is that Jerry Springer?”  
Mickey decided to cut the shit. “You going to tell me what’s really going on?”

Ian’s face flushed once more, but this time he started to actually answer the question.

“So…I had this thought where… never mind it’s stupid.” The redhead cut his stuttering off quickly and changed subjects. “Did you ever seen that episode of Maury where that lady-”

Mickey was unamused. “Ian.” 

“Wait. So this lady was sleeping with her-”

“Ian.”

“Fine.” Ian looked down at his fingers. “Just promise you won’t laugh or get angry or freak out. It’s only a suggestion.” He looked back up at Mickey with wide eyes. “Say that you promise.”

“I promise.” Mickey felt his heart start to race, unsure at what he was signing away to.

“What are your plans once you get to San Diego?”

“Fuck Ian, stop trying to change the subject.” Mickey exclaimed, growing frustrated with the man next to him.

“I’m not changing the subject.” Ian exclaimed back, just as frustrated. “This has to do with what I’m talking about.”

“How?” Mickey asked roughly. “I already told you. Find a place to live and find a job. That’s pretty much it.”

“That’s it? Really? You haven’t thought about anything else?”

“I have a feeling that you are about to tell me what else I should be thinking about.”

Ian reared back at Mickey’s tone. “Well you don’t have to sound so snippy about it, Mickey.”

“I’m not trying to be fucking snippy or whatever here, Gallagher. I’m trying to figure out what the fuck is wrong with you.” Mickey barked.

“I give up. Can we please just forget it? Please?” Ian whined almost desperately. “It’s so dumb anyways.”

Mickey had about had enough. “Hell no. Let me be the judge of that.” He was just getting started. “This is some fucked up bullshit. I have to sit around and talk to you about my feelings and problems, but you get some free pass? How is that fair?”

“Nobody asked you to tell me.”

“Are you kidding me, Ian?” Mickey all but roared before lowering his voice back down to normal. “You asked me to talk to you if I had any issues and I have. You know things about me that nobody else knows and I just fucking met you. Why can’t you do the same?”

“You know about my parents, about me being bipolar, about my siblings, about me wanting to join the army. I’ve told you everything too, Mick.” Ian shot right back.

“Obviously not everything.”

“Why are we arguing? Can we just stop?” Ian pleaded.

“Because you’re being a secretive asshole.” 

“Nice comeback, dickhead.” 

“Are we just going to keep calling each other names or are you going to start talking?” Mickey rolled his eyes when Ian started to give him the chin. “Fine, you know what, ignore me. I’ll just talk to the goddamn window.”

After a couple of seconds, Ian lowered his chin, seemingly conceding to the argument. “You’re right, okay? I’m a hypocrite. I’m pushy and demanding when it comes to other people, but I don’t expect myself to do the same thing I ask of them.” Ian lowered his voice to a whisper. “It just don’t want to mess this up.”

“Well, you’re going a bad job at that.” Mickey huffed.

“Am I really ruining things?” Ian asked, still whispering.

“No, stop. Just forget I said that. Gallagher, I promised that I wouldn’t freak out, so just fucking tell me.”

“You already broke that promise though. You’re mad at me.” Ian argued, not able to help himself.

“Are we still fucking doing this back and forth thing?” Mickey growled. “I’m mad because you aren’t telling me the shit you are supposed to be telling me!” 

“I want to move in together.” Ian snapped.

Mickey had not been expecting that and he shut up immediately. He stared blankly at Ian for a few minutes before he was able to speak again.

“What?”

“I want to move in together.” Ian repeated in a calmer voice.

“What?” Mickey repeated right back.

Ian threw his hands in the air. “Oh my god Mickey, I don’t really know how else to say it. When we get to San Diego, I think that we should move in together.”

Mickey fell back into silence and stared blankly at the younger man once again.

That didn’t stop Ian from continuing to talk “We’d be able to combine our money and get a nicer place. I just think it sounds like a good idea.” He stopped when he noticed the look on Mickey’s face. “At least I thought it was.” He finished sounding unsure.

“Why?” was the only thing that came to Mickey’s mind.

It was Ian’s turn to be confused. “What?” 

“Why do you want to live with me?” Mickey asked.

Ian looked at him like he had an extra head. “I told you, so we can get a better place and we can save some money.”

“So like roommates?” Mickey wondered out loud.

Ian seemed a little taken aback, like he hadn’t even thought about that option. “Oh.” He also looked a little hurt. “Sure. If that’s what you want.” Ian said softly, a small frown making its way on to his face.

Mickey was honestly perplexed. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Nothing.” Ian said hastily, wiping the frown off his face and plastering on a fake smile. “Yeah, we can combine our money and probably get a decent two bedroom or something.”

It all hit Mickey at once. “You don’t want to get a two bedroom.”

“What?”

“Jesus, take a shot every time one of us says ‘what’ in this conversation.” Mickey muttered under his breath before soldering on. “You don’t want to get a two bedroom. You want us to live together live together.” 

Ian tensed at the accusation. “I never said that.”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “Oh please, Gallagher. It’s written all over your face.”

“Fuck you, Mickey.”

A tense silence fell between the two as they stared at each other heatedly. 

Eventually Ian’s face softened and he asked weakly, “Is it that stupid of any idea?”

Mickey remained mute.

Ian ran a hand over his face and sighed loudly. “This is why I didn’t want to say anything.” He went back to picking his fingers, mumbling lowly. “I can move seats if you want.”

Mickey heard him clearly and scoffed, breaking his own silence. “Jesus, why do you always want to move? Nobody’s fucking switching seats. Just sit there and chill your tits, Ian.”

Ian glanced up at him, an unsure look still plastered firmly on his face. Mickey looked away from him and stared out the window, losing himself to his thoughts.

By this point, Mickey felt as though he was just repeating himself over and over again. He’d never known anything other than abuse; he’d never been in a real (or any) relationship, much less with a man; he’d never opened up about his feelings to anyone; he’d never had sex with the same person more than twice; he’d never, he’d never, he’d never.

The funny thing was that he’d never done any of that shit before Ian.

Two days ago, Ian Gallagher sat down next to him on a Greyhound bus to nowhere and completely tipped Mickey’s world upside down… and couldn’t (didn’t want to) find it in himself to right it. 

The thought to continue whatever this was with Ian once they were back in the real world had occurred to Mickey multiple times in the last day. He found that he liked thinking about how things could go. 

But he hadn’t even considering moving in with Ian… this soon. Now he was.

Maybe it was time for Mickey do something spontaneous for once though; something that would make him completely happy.

Maybe it was time to jump off the cliff without looking and worry about the crash later.

“It’s not a bad idea.” Mickey mumbled faintly as he turned back and watched Ian perked up.

“Yeah?”

“Like you said, we’d save money.” Mickey worried his lip.

“Yeah?” Ian stared back at him steadily, obviously trying not to look too hopeful. 

“We’d be able to probably afford something better together than a complete shithole apart.”

“Yeah?”

“We’d have someone around that we knew.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you broken?” Mickey barked, growing tired of the one word act. 

Ian laughed somewhat tentatively. “No. Mickey… I don’t want you to feel like you have to say yes. It’s not like I’m going to beat you up or anything.” He paused. “I just wanted to put it out there, let you think about it. Feel free to say no.”

Mickey eyed the taller man warily. “And you would be okay with that?”

“Yes? It might make things a little awkward, but I, scratch that, we will be fine.”

“How can you be so damn optimistic, man? Why are you such a fucking dreamer?” Mickey demanded, genuinely wanting to know.

Ian scratched his head. “I feel like I have to be. I was dealt a pretty shitty hand, Mick. I figure I just have to learn how to play my best with it.”

“So if I said yes, but only as roommates, roommates who occasionally fuck on the side, you would be fine?”

Ian simply shrugged his shoulders. 

“And if I just said no, just like that, no, you would be perfectly okay with us just continuing whatever the hell this is?”

Ian shrugged his shoulders again, only this time a little weaker. “I’m not going to pressure you into anything. Like I said, it’s just an idea that I’ve been juggling around in my head. I don’t know why we are making it into such a big deal. Just say no-”

“I don’t want to say no and it is a big fucking deal.” He snapped, unable to stop himself.

Ian looked at him in wonder. He started to say something, but Mickey cut him off again. 

“What if everything that has happened in the last two days has been a fluke? What if you at sat down next to some random other guy on this bus and the same thing had happened? What if you get off this bus and realize that I’m just some loser?” Mickey asked in rapid succession. He was startled when Ian started to laugh loudly.

“I’ve been thinking those same things this whole time, Mickey! Stop making me out to be some superhero who is never afraid. I’m just as scared-” Mickey started to object. “I’m just as nervous as you are.”

Mickey eyed Ian suspiciously, not really believing him. 

“Stop looking at me like that! It’s true.” Ian leaned over and nudged Mickey. “Mick, I like you. I like talking to you. I like bickering with you. I like playing games with you. I really like fucking you and I know that I would like for all of this to continue. Now if that’s in our bedroom or our separate bedrooms or our separate apartment then so be it. Just let me know.”

Mickey leaned back in his seat and huffed. He knew what he wanted, but he was not quite ready to say it out loud or tell Ian yet.

“Fuck, man. They should start charging for counseling on these fucking things.”

\------------

“Got any twos?”

Ian preened like an idiot as Mickey handed over his three 2’s and the redhead completed a set.

“I believe we are sitting here playing this game like a bunch of first graders.” Mickey grumbled, more pissed that Ian had taken his cards than anything. 

After their therapy session from earlier, Ian had brought out his deck of cards, hoping to alleviate some of the tension. It had worked. After shooting down Mickey’s initial suggestion of strip poker and after a few vicious rounds of War and Slapjack, Ian had settled on Go Fish.

“You’re just mad you are losing. My little brother, Liam, could probably beat you. Got any Jacks?”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “There’s no strategy, asshole. Anybody could win this game. Go Fish. Got any Kings?” He smirked as Ian scowled and handed him over two Kings. “Doesn’t feel so great does it? Got any sixes?” Mickey went on a streak, collecting fives, sevens, and tens from Ian before he was told Go Fish.

“Got an Aces?”

“Go Fish, bitch.”

\------------

They were almost there. 

Thirty minutes to go.

Mickey could almost feel it. 

\------------

“What’s going to be the first thing you do when we get off the bus?” Ian inquired, putting the cards away and starting to get his stuff together.

“Get the biggest fucking milkshake known to man and a huge plate fries.” 

Ian nodded in agreement. “A giant fucking cheeseburger too.”

“Yeah. You pay this time though. Your turn to shell out the dough.” 

Here he goes. Mickey was about to go in for the kill.

“We are going to need food and energy for when we have to find a motel for tonight and go hunting for an apartment.” Mickey added as nonchalantly as possible. “Even though, I don’t think it will be that hard to find a one bedroom.”

Nailed it.

Ian gaped at him before coughing to try and hide the smile that was rapidly making its way across his face.

“That sounds like a plan, Mick.”

\------------

_“Ladies and Gentleman, we have reached our destination. Make sure that your area is clean and that you have all of your items. You leave it on the bus, I’m probably going to keep it, and you will lose it. Thank you for riding with me on this trip. It’s been an eventful one. Welcome to San Diego."_

\------------

0 hours to go.


	14. epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully you enjoy this 9500 words jumbled mess of goo. it's basically 10 different moments in their new lives together. i hope it makes sense.
> 
> thank y'all so much for everything. it means the world to me.

The motel was shit. The motel was gross. The motel made the Milkovich house look like the Four Seasons.

Mickey was pretty sure there was piss on the floor and blood on the walls. The television barely worked and the bed made weird noises when he sat on it.

Ian was there though, so that made things a little better.

“This place is disgusting.” Ian cried as he flung himself down on the bed next to Mickey, causing it to squeak loudly like a mouse.

“Keep doing that and people are going to think we’re in here fucking like rabbits.” Mickey muttered as he threw an arm over his eyes and groaned. He was exhausted.

Ian turned to his side and looked at Mickey, running his hand up and down the tired man’s chest. “Yeah, that won’t be happening anytime soon. We’d probably catch a disease in here. Did you see the shower? The water is brown.”

Mickey groaned even louder. “Don’t fucking tell me that shit, Gallagher.” He felt Ian inch his way closer to him until he was pressed up against his side and resting his head on his chest.

“This is only temporary, Mickey.” Ian whispered, his hand still drawing soothing patterns on Mickey’s stomach. “This is the start of something new and good.”

Mickey remained still and quiet.

“You still want to find a place together, right?”

The unsure tone in Ian’s voice finally made Mickey move. He curled his arm around Ian and moved his hand through his red hair. “Of course, man.”

\------------

“Hello?”

“Fuck you!”

“Excuse me?” Mickey pulled the phone away from his ear and glanced at the caller id. “What the hell, Mandy?”

“You have been in town for five days, Mickey. FIVE DAYS. You didn’t think for once that you should probably call your sister and let her know that you’re not dead, dipshit?”

“You didn’t call to check up on me either, bitch.”

“I’ve been busy.”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “Well, I’ve been pretty fucking busy too.”

“You should have at least texted.” Mandy lectured.

“Okay, mom. Did you call for a reason or did you just want to bitch at me?”

“Both. What happened with that guy?”

Mickey decided to play dumb. “Who?”

“The guy you called me about last week?” Mandy asked, sounding confused.

“Who?”

“The one you sat next to on the bus?”

“Who?”

Mandy let out a groan on the other end of the line, catching on the Mickey’s game. “I fucking hate you. Tell me. Are you still hooking up with him?”

“Actually-” Mickey started, only to be cut off.

“Oh my god. You screwed it up didn’t you? You pussied out.”

“No-” He was cut off again.

“Mickey Milkovich, that guy sounded perfect.” Mandy chided. “What did you do?”

Mickey hung up the phone. Twenty seconds later, Mandy called back.

“What the hell was that for?”

“Maybe if you shut the fuck up for two minutes and listened then you would know.”

Mandy went silent.

“We’re-” Mickey braced himself. “We’re going to shack up together.”

Mandy remained silent for a beat before screeching. “What?!”

“Yeah, save money and shit.”

“What?!” Mandy screeched again.

“We can afford a better place together.”

“So like roommates?” Mandy asked, taking a break from her screeching.

“Not exactly-”

“What?!”

“Mandy.”

“Who the fuck are you and what have you done with my brother?”

Mickey sighed exasperatedly. “Mandy.”

“The Mickey Milkovich I knew was the most closeted gay guy ever and now you are telling me that you are legit moving in with some guy. Some guy you met a week ago?!”

“Maybe if you didn’t run off for two years, then you would know that I’m not the same.” Mickey barked, defensive and embarrassed.

“Oh Mickey, don’t bring that into this.” Mandy huffed. “Besides you were the same guy as always until you called me last week from the side of the road asking for advice.”

Mickey sighed.

“Are you sure about this? What if this is some sort of con? What if this guy is an axe murderer?”

“He hasn’t killed me yet.”

“Yet being the operative word, brother.”

“Last week, you were harping on me to give this guy a chance and now you are trying to talk me out of it.”

“No, I’m not. It’s just all kind of sudden.” Mandy paused. “I’ve done this 0 to 60 fast paced thing with relationships before and they all blew up in my face. I’m just looking out for you, Mick.”

“I know what I’m doing.” Mickey replied forcefully, hoping to bring an end to this discussion.

A silence fell over the siblings before Mandy broke it.

“Okay. okay. I trust you. Just be careful, Mickey.” Mandy took a deep breath before changing the serious tone of her voice to something more playful. “He’s obviously hot as hell or he’s amazing in the sack.”

Mickey laughed, feeling some of the tension leave his shoulders. “Both.”

* * *

Thank god Ian had met Mickey Milkovich.

Within minutes of starting the apartment search, it had become painfully obvious that neither man could have afforded to live in San Diego on their saved up money alone. Combined though, they had enough to find something somewhat decent.

The apartment they settled on wasn’t the best, but it definitely wasn’t the worst. There weren’t _that_ many stains on the walls or floors and the water was actually clear.

More importantly, the names Mickey Milkovich and Ian Gallagher were signed next to each other on the lease. It was _theirs_ and that was all that really mattered.

\------------

Ian found a burnt orange couch and a wood coffee table at Goodwill for $25. Mickey bought an obviously stolen television off a guy and was able to figure out how to steal cable from their neighbors.

Mickey surprised Ian one day by going to Ikea and splurging on a nice bed. Ian thanked him by christing it over and over again.

Later, with the addition of a dresser for their bedroom (filled with the perfectly odd mixture of both of their clothes) and a kitchen table (which they may or may not have fucked on the moment they put it together), their apartment was complete.

 ****Except for one thing.

“I want you to draw some stuff to put on the walls.” Ian mentioned one day over breakfast.

Mickey scoffed around a mouthful of Fruit Loops and did not look up from the paper.

“Why won’t you?’

“Because it’s stupid, this place looks fine the way it is.”

Ian looked around. “Mickey. The walls are insane asylum white. We need some color or something.”

“You draw some pretty pictures then.”

Ian scowled at him until an idea suddenly popped in to his head. He shot up out of his seat and ran to their bedroom to grab something. He came out a few minutes later with a piece of paper and held it up to the wall. It was the picture that Mickey had drawn of Ian on the bus.

“You are not putting that shit on the wall.” Mickey called from the kitchen table.

“One: watch me.” Ian challenged. “Two: it’s the first and only thing you’ve ever drawn for me so it’s special, and three: draw more shit so it doesn’t stand out so much.”

\------------

About a week later, Ian came home to drawings all over the walls. He turned towards Mickey, who was pointedly focused on the television. Ian smiled and made it was over to the artist and simply kissed him on the top of the head.

He wouldn’t make a big deal out of it, even though it was.

* * *

Living together was an adjustment.

\------------

Living with Mickey Milkovich was interesting.

He was kind of a slob. There were always a stack of dirty dishes piled up in the sink that he promised to “get to later”, only to wash one dish when he needed it. He left clothes everywhere. From any one point in the living room, at least four articles of Mickey’s clothing could be seen strewn across the room. A sock on the coffee table, a pair of jeans hung over a chair in the kitchen, a shirt bundled up besides the couch, and mismatching shoes blocking the doorway. He clipped his toenails on the coffee table and left them and he never hung up his towel.

Nothing could change the amazing feeling of waking up pressed against him though.

Ian could learn to live with the mess as long as he was able to do that every morning.

\------------

Living with Ian Gallagher was interesting.

He was kind of loud. He turned up the volume on the television so high that his siblings could probably hear it back in Chicago. He sang horribly off key in the shower for the whole world to listen. He got up ridiculously early on the weekends and stomped around cleaning the apartment, purposely telling Mickey that he was cleaning up after him. He talked non stop 24/7.

Nothing could change the amazing feeling of coming home to Ian’s smile and laughter though.

Mickey could learn to live with the noise as long as he was able to do that every day.

* * *

Mandy Milkovich was a bitch. At least that’s what everyone thought; everyone except for Ian Gallagher.

Ian thought she was perfect.

\------------

Ian started bugging Mickey about visiting his sister the moment they arrived to San Diego. Mickey, less than thrilled at the idea of another long ass road trip, rejected the idea. He’d promised though that they would visit Mandy once they’d settled in.

That was a while ago and Ian thought it was ridiculous that he still hadn’t met the female Milkovich.

So he took matters into his own hands.

“Hey douchebag.”

Ian was a little taken aback by the way Mandy answered the phone. “Umm, hi Mandy. My name is Ian-”

“Ian Ian? The guy Mickey met on the bus and is now living with?”

“He talks about me?” Ian couldn’t help but ask, momentarily forgetting the reason he called.

“Too much if you ask me. It’s kind of sickening.” Mandy made a gagging noise over the phone before seemingly realizing that Ian was calling from Mickey’s phone. “Why are you calling me? Is my brother okay? Is he hurt? Did you kill him?”

Ian hastily answered her question. “No, no, no. Did I kill him? Jesus, no. He’s fine. He’s in the shower.” He laughed. “I just wanted to call to see if we could get together sometime soon. I’d love to meet you.”

“Oh? That’s it? I’ve been telling that assface that I’ve been wanting to come visit for like a month now. I think he’s a little nervous. He probably doesn’t want to scare you off or some shit like that.”

“Are you that scary?”

“I can be.” Mandy said ominously. “How about we surprise him? I’ll drive down there this weekend... as long as you pay for half of my gas money of course.”

\------------

Mandy Milkovich was everything that Mickey described her as plus so much more.

Ian thought that was a good thing.

\------------

It was six o’clock on a Friday night when there was a knock on the apartment door.

“I’ll get it.” Mickey grumbled as he stood up from the couch. “That fucking pizza boy has a hard on for you.”

“You jealous?” Ian called as Mickey made his way to the door and laughed when Mickey flipped him off over his shoulder as he opened the door.

“You owe me twenty bucks for this fucking pizza, assholes.” Mandy Milkovich, in all her glory, said as she barged past her brother and made her way into the apartment. “That guy was really creepy by the way. He kept saying he wanted to bring it to the door himself so he could check out the redhead.”

“Mandy?” Mickey asked from behind her, looking very confused. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Your boytoy called me last week and told me that you missed me” Mandy made her way over to her brother and wrapped him up in a tight hug. “I’ve might of missed you too, Mick.” The contact brought Mickey back to Earth and he finally hugged his sister back for the first time in two years before pushing her off of him.

“You’re the one that ran away, bitch.”

“Yeah well, you seemed to like the idea seeing as you did the same fucking thing.”

The Milkoviches soon started bickering, causing Ian to clear his throat. They both turned towards him with identical looks on their faces. “Hi, I’m Ian.”

Mandy walked towards him, obviously sizing him up, before turning back to her brother. “You’re right, he is pretty fucking hot.”

\------------

Ian Gallagher was pretty sure Mickey and Mandy Milkovich were his soulmates.

* * *

Mickey knew that he was not qualified for most jobs. He knew he’d be pushing it if he said that he had a ninth grade education. It was around fifth grade when he had _mentally_ checked out of school.

He knew that if people could look past his bleak resume and his knuckle tattoos, he’d be good enough for any job out there, but Mickey wasn’t stupid. When it came to employment, his opportunities were kind of limited.

Ian cared about it more than he did; Mickey knew his options and he was perfectly fine with them. So when he stumbled across a classified in the paper talking about construction, Mickey looked into it and applied. Within the week, he had the job.

Construction wasn’t that bad. The hours were long, but the pay was good. The overtime didn’t suck either. There were times Mickey would come exhausted and mornings were he felt like he couldn’t get out of bed, but at the end of the day he didn’t mind his job.

He got to work all over the city; he got to take out his frustrations on nails, wood, and concrete; he got to make friends with a few of the guys; he got to afford to live with Ian.

It was fine and it would do.

\------------

“Hey Milkovich. We’re all going out tonight to celebrate! You never come; you have to this time.”

Mickey’s crew had just completed a grueling job that had taken weeks. They all deserved a night out.

“Fine. Let me just make a phone call real quick.”

Billy, one of the more annoying members of his crew, started to make kissing noises. “Gotta ask your old lady?”

Mickey had mentioned Ian before, but he hadn’t mentioned _Ian_. It was implied that he had someone special at home with him, but he never went into detail. Mickey wasn’t ashamed of Ian; he just felt like it wasn’t worth mentioning.

“Why don’t you invite the old ball and chain and that roommate of yours?” They were one and the same, but Mickey remained mum. He just flicked them off as he scrolled through his phone, pressed on Ian’s name and waited for him to answer.

“Hey! Did you finish the job?”

Mickey smiled despite himself. “Yeah.” Ian cheered on the other side of the phone. ”Um, listen. The crew wants to go out tonight and celebrate.”

“That’s fine. You guys deserve it.”

Mickey paused for a second before going in for the kill. “Do you want to come?”

There was silence for a moment on the other end of the line. “Really?” Ian asked, sounding a little shocked.

“Sure, I guess. It’s probably about time you met the guys.”

“Ok… ok, ok.” Mickey could hear the clear excitement in Ian’s voice though he was trying to play it off. “Just text me the address and I’ll meet you there.”

\------------

Mickey was not nervous. Mickey was _not_ nervous. So what if he was attracted to other dudes, so what if he lived with and shared a bed with another man; so what? Nobody cared.

Except Mickey could think of a lot of people who _did_ care; which is why he _was_ nervous. (Shut up.)

His nerves died a little the moment he initially spotted Ian across the bar, only to kick back up as Ian approached him and the crew.

“Hey, Mick.” Ian gave a small wave but made no further action towards Mickey. Mickey blinked at the redhead, unsure what to do. Ian rolled his eyes and took that as the queue to introduce himself. “Hi, I’m Ian.”

“Oh, Ian! You’re Mickey’s roommate, right?” One of the guys asked.

It was the tiny, quick flash of hurt in Ian’s eyes that finally snapped Mickey out of his trance. Just as Ian started to say yes, Mickey butted in. “Nah, he’s my boyfriend.”

Ian’s proud smile washed away any of the nerves Mickey had left.

\------------

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you call me your boyfriend.” Ian whispered to Mickey later that night in the darkness of their bedroom. “It got me all hot and bothered.”

“That’s obvious after that performance.” Mickey muttered back raspily, still feeling thoroughly blissed out.

“Say it again.”

“No.”

“Say that I’m your boyfriend.”

“No.”

Ian started to place kisses down Mickey’s chest until suddenly he bit down hard on Mickey’s nipple. “Jesus, Gallagher! What the fuck?!” Mickey cried, attempting to push Ian off of him.

“Say that I’m your boyfriend.” Ian replied innocently before he leaned down and continued to kiss at Mickey’s chest again, apparently hoping to ease the pain.

“Not after that.” Mickey grumbled as he started to get lost in Ian’s kisses and let out a loud groan as Ian moved further south. Right before Ian reached his ultimate target though, he pulled away from Mickey.”What the-”

“No.” Ian sassed back. “New rule; I only give blowjobs to my boyfriends.”

“Fine, just come back over here.” Mickey murmured as he pawed at the air towards Ian.

Ian rolled back over onto Mickey and stared at him, waiting.

Mickey took a deep breath. “You’re my boyfriend, Ian. I never thought I had to tell you that.”

Ian beamed down at him and it made Mickey feel one hundred percent better. “You don’t. It’s just nice to hear sometimes, Mick.” He then moved his way back down Mickey, working on completing his earlier mission.

Mickey sighed happily.

Having a boyfriend was pretty great.

* * *

“Mickey! Mickey!” Ian called as bust through the door after a double shift. He had been working at a diner close by, trying to make some money while he figured out what he wanted to do in the long run. Today, he figured it out.

“Mickey? Mickey!” Ian continued to call, running through their apartment looking for the man in question. He made his way into the bathroom where the shower was running and pulled back the curtain. “Mickey, guess what!”

Mickey jumped and whirled around to look at him. “Jesus Christ, Gallagher. What the hell?” he asked as Ian shed his clothes and climbed into the shower. Ian soon started pressing kisses all over Mickey’s face giddily. Mickey laughed before shoving the redhead off of him. ”Are you high?” Mickey asked suspiciously.

“Never again, Mick.” Ian replied with wide, excited eyes. “I’m going to become an EMT.”

Mickey blinked and held a hand up to stop Ian as he leaned in for more kisses. “Ian…” Mickey started, sounding a little unsure.

“What?” Ian asked defensively as he backed off. “You don’t think I can do it?”

Mickey turned away from him to turn off the shower and climb out. “I didn’t say that.” Mickey mumbled as he wrapped a towel around his waist. Ian soon followed him out of the shower and the bathroom.

“Well it sounds that way.” Ian accused before taking a deep breath and running his fingers through his wet hair. “Mickey, I ran into Jenny, remember the nurse from the bus, at the dinner today and we talked for like two hours.”

As he spoke Ian noticed that it was eight, so he briefly left the room to take his medication. That was when he noticed Mickey watching him carefully. Suddenly, the reason for Mickey’s doubts became clear.

“Is that what this is about?” Ian snapped as he threw his pill bottle at Mickey, who caught it and looked ashamed. “I know that I’ve had a couple of off days lately, but I’ve been taking my new fucking pills, Mickey. This isn’t mania talking or anything. Everyone, especially you, always tells me that this fucking disease shouldn’t stop me from doing anything I want to do.” Ian bellowed, hurt by Mickey’s doubts.

Mickey opened his mouth and looked like he wanted to say something, but Ian quickly kept talking. “No. Fuck you, I can do this and I’m going to prove you wrong.”

\------

Ian hated sleeping on the couch, away from the comfort of his bed and the comfort of Mickey, but sometimes it was just necessary. He was hurt by his boyfriend and wanted to be nowhere near him at the moment. If it weren’t so late, he’d probably be halfway to Mandy’s by now.

Instead, Ian laid on their couch for hours, thinking and rethinking about everything.

In the months since Ian and Mickey had arrived in San Diego, Ian had been a little lost. It’s not like he had expected to move across the country and just have everything fall into place, but he thought it would be a little easier than this. The only thing that was really right in his life was Mickey, who he’d discovered by a freak chance and who was never part of the original plan. Honestly, if it weren’t for Mickey, Ian would have probably moved back to Chicago by now.

Getting reacquainted with and listening to Jenny talk about her work tonight though had sparked something in Ian that he’d been missing for awhile. He knew he could do this… too bad Mickey didn’t.

Lately, Ian had his off days, but that was expected and he had been relatively stable in the long run. He took his pills twice a day everyday. He ate healthy enough and worked out daily. He was doing everything he could do to be functional and he was doing as well as he could. Fuck if he was going to let this disease take over him and ruin his life like it did Monica.

Ian was shaken from his thoughts by the pressure of a body laying down on top of him. He remained quiet as Mickey cuddled into his chest.

“So would we call you EMT Ian? Are you going to drive the ambulance?”

Ian stiffened but made no movement to push the older man off of him. “Don’t mock me, Mickey.”

“I’m not.” Mickey sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed that shit about your meds.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.” Ian sniffed at him.

“I’m trying here, Ian.” Mickey rubbed his face tiredly into the fabric of Ian’s shirt. “Tell me what this nurse said.”

“It’s stupid, forget about it. Let’s just go to bed.” Ian started to nudge Mickey off of him only for his boyfriend to grab him by the shoulders and forcefully push him back down on the couch.

Ian sank back down into the cushions as Mickey shimmed his way up his body, lining their faces up and effectively pinning Ian to the couch. “Tell me about it.”

Stubborn as usual, Ian tried to turn his head away, but Mickey stopped him.

“Ian, tell me about it.”

After a few moments of silence, Ian finally relented. “It would take like two months. I have to go to classes on the weekends, take some tests and go on some ride alongs. It’s probably stupid, but I would be able to-” He stopped short of finishing his sentence until Mickey poked him in the ribs, signaling him to continue. ‘I would be able to help people, Mick. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted to do.”

Mickey remained quiet for a long moment and Ian grew uneasy under his intense stare.

“Okay. Sign up.”

Ian squinted at his boyfriend distrustfully. “Really?”

Mickey gave him a small smile in return. “Yeah. You want to do this and you think that you can do this. I believe in you.”

“You didn’t believe in me earlier.” Ian retorted, still not wanting to get his hopes up.

“Ian, you came charging into the showering yelling about wanting to go back to school and become an EMT. It was a little confusing and jarring. That’s the first time I’ve seen you get excited about something like that. I’m sorry, but just promise that if you feel overwhelmed or stress, you’ll tell me. Don’t bring your pride into this, Ian.”

Ian squinted at the man perched on his stomach before relenting. “I was thinking about using the money Clayton sent us to help pay for it.”

“Daddy Warbucks didn’t send us anything. He sent that money to you.”

“I know but we were going to use it to help buy a car.” Ian said uncertainly.

Mickey waved him off. “That can wait, man. This is more important. Besides, I have a thing for buses.”

\------------

Every Saturday and Sunday for two months, Ian was in class… and he loved it.

He learned about the human body, triage, vital signs, toxicology, bandaging. He learned it all and he couldn’t get enough.

Mickey played the perfect dummy for him, allowing Ian to practice all of his new techniques on his waiting body. Ian was 100 percent sure Mickey even got a little off on it.

Ian Gallagher had found his calling and it felt so good.

\------------

“So is there going to be some sort of graduation ceremony or something?” Mickey asked one night as he lounged around on the couch with Ian studying next to him.

Without looking up from his textbook, Ian answered his question. “Not that I know of. I think I just go and take the exam and see how it goes. I already got that job offer, so all I really need is the certificate.”

“Can I go with you?”

Ian looked up at Mickey and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Go with me where?”

“To your test tomorrow.” Mickey muttered to him, leaving his focus on the television. “I’ll sit outside and wait to see how you do.”

“Why? It’s going to take like five hours. Is that really how you want to spend your day off?”

“You’d be there.”

Ian’s face softened and he practically turned into mush. “You’ve missed me.” He cooed at Mickey as he set his textbook down to scoot over and straddle himself across his boyfriend’s lap.

“No.” Mickey replied roughly, but his face said otherwise.

“I’ve been right here.” Ian said gently as he placed soft kisses along Mickey’s jaw line and up to his temple. He smiled when he felt Mickey’s arms wrap around his waist and pull him even closer.

“You’ve been preoccupied.” Mickey mumbled, burying his face into Ian’s neck.

“It will all be over tomorrow, Mick. I’ll have my new job, you’ll have your job and we will become that boring old couple who doesn’t have sex because we’re too tired.”

Mickey pulled his face away from the column of Ian’s neck and looked at him. “We will never be that tired and boring. No sex, fuck that bullshit.” He leaned forward and kissed Ian thoroughly just to prove his point.

\------------

“I passed!”

Ian, with a gigantic smile that threatened to take over his whole face and waving a sheet of paper in the air, raced over to a waiting Mickey, yanked him out of his seat, and swooped him up in a huge hug.

“I passed, Mickey.” Ian pulled away and stared down at his boyfriend in wonder. “I actually fucking did it.”

Mickey beamed up at him before pulling the newly certified EMT down for a quick kiss.

“I’m so fucking proud of you.”

* * *

Sure, they had arguments. It was almost impossible for them not to. Mickey was hotheaded and defensive to a fault. Ian was stubborn and oversensitive. The lethal combination could make some of their fights brutal.

This time was a little different though.

Normally after an argument, one would storm out, be gone for a couple of hours, and then come home. Leave, be gone, come back. Sometimes it was Ian, the other times it was Mickey. They always made up though.

During some of their pricklier fights, one of them would end up in L.A. for a few days, commandeering Mandy’s spare bedroom and her patience. They always came home in the end though.

As mentioned, this time was a little different.

It had been over a week since Ian had left the apartment after their worst fight yet. It had been stupid, but nasty words were said and punches were thrown.

After a couple of days, Mickey had been so fucking _worried_. No return home, no calls, no texts; nothing from Ian. If it weren’t for Mandy, he’d have had no idea where his boyfriend was. Turned out Ian had been staying at the same motel he and Mickey had spent their first week in San Diego. It would almost be romantic if the situation didn’t fucking suck.

Mickey didn’t go after him though. The fucker wanted to leave, Mickey would let him go.

His resolve lasted only a few days before Mickey decided he would give the redhead a total of ten days until he broke the motel room door down and dragged the younger man home.

It was the end of the ninth day and Mickey was laying in bed, smoking through a pack of cigarettes and attempting to watch television. If this thing with Ian didn’t kill him then the thirty extra packs of cigarettes he’d smoked that week would probably do it.

As usual, his thoughts were centered on Ian. What was he doing? Was he taking his pills? When Mickey showed up at the motel, would Ian want to talk to him? Would he and Mickey be okay?

The alert of a text message dragged Mickey out of his head. He was tempted to ignore it, figuring it was Mandy calling him stupid or some shit like that. Though reluctant, he reached over to the other side of the bed and grabbed his phone off of the table.

_one text message: IAN_

Mickey felt his stomach clench and his heart about jump out of his throat. He scrambled to unlock his phone and read what the message said.

_Your favorite movie is on FX._

The bastard had always been bad at initiating text conversations. Curious, Mickey changed the channel and saw that Double Impact was on. He smirked.

**Fuck Van Damme.**

Mickey had so much more to say but didn’t, hoping to see where Ian was going with this.

_I’m sorry, Mick._

**Come home, Ian.**

He didn’t hear anything back. Ten minutes later, he heard the front door open.

It was officially day ten and Ian was home.

They’d be fine.

* * *

“Let’s do something this weekend.”

His boyfriend ignored him and continued to watch a rerun of the Real Housewives of Atlanta.

“It’s the first weekend in forever that we’ve both been off. I want to have fun.” Ian’s eyes lit up as he came up with a new idea. “Let’s go camping on the beach!"

Mickey finally looked away from the screaming woman on television. “Why the hell would we do that? We have a perfectly good bed right here.”

“A bed that we sleep in every night. It’s time to mix it up.” Ian insisted. “We can have vacation sex.”

“It ain’t a vacation. It would be us fucking on the hard ground.” Mickey insisted right back.

“When did you get so particular, Mickey? Don’t forget that I know all of the weird and gross places that you’ve had sex.”

“Because you were right there with me, Gallagher.”

\------------

“I can’t believe we are spending our weekend camping. We could be like four rounds into a fuck fest right about now.”

Ian threw the tent bag at him. “Stop bitching and set this thing up. Unless you want to sleep outside under the stars? That would be so romantic.” Ian pretended to swoon.

Mickey flipped him off as he dumped the contents of the bag out and started to read the instructions.

“Are you really looking at the instructions?” Ian asked as he started to unpack some of the food. “It should just open right up.”

“Obviously it doesn’t, asshole, and not all of us have ROTC training.” Mickey grumbled as he struggled to put one of the stakes into the ground. Ian smirked at his boyfriend’s failure and walked over to help him out.

“Watch this.” Within minutes, the tent was up and a smug look at taken home on Ian’s face.

“I hate you.”

\------------

Later in the day, Mickey and Ian, the only two left in their secluded corner of the beach, sat shoulder to shoulder watching the sunset over the ocean.

They’d spent their time at the beach wrestling in the water and playing in the sand followed by grilled hotdogs and chilled beers. It had been the perfect day.

“Admit it, Mick. This hasn’t been that bad.” Ian prodded as he dropped a kiss to Mickey’s shoulder, tasting the salt water left over from the ocean.

Mickey leaned back on the towel behind him and stared up at Ian with a happy look on his face, saying nothing.

“It’s almost romantic, isn’t it?” Ian prodded some more, subtly moving his hand up Mickey’s leg to the waistband of his swim trunks.

“I’ll never admit to that.” Mickey’s eyes widened as Ian used his hand to swiftly pull down his swim trunks. “What the fuck, Gallagher?”

“It’s time to go skinny dipping.” Ian called over his shoulder, already naked and halfway to the water. “Maybe we can start that fuck fest you were talking about.”

\------------

It was even later in the day and Mickey and Ian sat shoulder to shoulder, cramming as many s'mores as they could into their mouths.

Ian looked over at his partner and noticed remnants of marshmallow splattered all over his lips and cheeks. It was so fucking cute.

“Come here, you idiot. You look ridiculous.” Ian said fondly as he grabbed a hold of Mickey’s face.

Ian leaned in and kissed Mickey softly on the mouth, tasting the unique combination of Mickey and chocolate. He soon moved his lips up to Mickey’s cheeks, slowing licking them clean. When finished, he immediately returned his lips to Mickey’s, kissing him lazily.

Suddenly without warning, Ian was on his back with Mickey straddled above him. The older man looked down at him with a soft look in his eyes before he leaned down and kissed Ian just they way he had kissed Mickey moments earlier.

They made out slowly and deeply, letting the nightlight wash over them. Minutes passed as lips and tongues tangled together, each boy losing themselves to the moment.

“Time for round two.” Mickey muttered into the small space between their lips.

Ian pulled away and stared up at Mickey, who was basked in the moonlight.

“You going to fuck me, Mickey? Fuck me under the stars?”

Mickey did just that.

\------------

It was early the next morning and Mickey and Ian were wrapped up around each other, using each other’s bodies as blankets and pillows even though they had both.

“Thank you for this.” Ian whispered quietly, not wanting to break the calm.

“Nah, thank you.” Mickey whispered back just as softly, watching the sun rise through the flap in their tent.

What a great day.

* * *

It was a Tuesday when Mickey got the call saying the Gallaghers wanted to come to California to surprise Ian for his 21st birthday.

It had been about two years since Ian had seen any of his siblings, so Mickey was forced to agree. Apparently Fiona had bagged another rich dude who was willing to pay for their flights as well as a hotel room. Thank fuck.

Mickey had only ever really had the pleasure of getting to know Debbie Gallagher. The younger redhead had become his go-to call whenever Ian was having a _bad day_. Debbie knew exactly what to say to Ian (and Mickey) to make things a little better.

The other Gallaghers were complete mysteries. He’d heard all about Fiona and her mothering tendencies, he’d heard the horror stories about Carl and his experiments, he was as confused as anyone when it came to Liam being black. Other than that, he really knew nothing nor did he care to know. The only Gallagher that Mickey really had an opinion on (besides Debbie) was Lip.

Lip Gallagher could rot in hell as far as Mickey was concerned. In the last year and a half, Ian had heard from his brother a grand total of four times, each time ending badly. Ian acted like it didn’t matter, but Mickey saw right through his bullshit. What a great “best friend” Lip was.

\------------

On the morning of Ian’s birthday, Mickey woke him up with a blowjob. Mickey worked his boyfriend’s dick with a slow and lazy purpose, willing to stay in bed and just do this all day. The birthday boy’s fingers soon found themselves latched into Mickey’s dark hair and lightly pulling, trying to get him to speed up his work. Mickey did as he was instructed and continued to swallow Ian down as far as he could, humming Happy Birthday around his cock. He felt Ian shake with laughter above him then heard him gasp and the grip on his hair get tighter. He took that as the signal that Ian was close and with one last expert suck, Ian was gone.

Mickey pulled his mouth off with an obscene pop and slowly moved up Ian’s body to rest on his chest.

“Happy Birthday.”

Ian returned Mickey’s lazy smile with a luminous one of his own. “Was that my present?"

“I’m just getting started.”

\------------

The plan was for Mickey and Mandy to bring Ian to a restaurant where the Gallaghers would be waiting. Going out to eat was a luxury for them. Thankfully, Fiona’s sugar daddy was once again paying.

Ian was on cloud nine and obliviously happy as the hostess ushered them towards the back room until suddenly pandemonium broke out. From every direction, there were Gallaghers rushing forward to hug Ian. Mickey watched from the sidelines as a shocked Ian stood still for a second before a huge grin broke out on his face and he returned the exuberant hugs.

Mickey was suddenly yanked into the celebrations by Ian, who was proudly showing him off to his family. Mickey wilted under the scrutiny until Debbie plowed forward and pulled him into an embrace.

“Mickey! It’s so nice to finally meet you in person.”

After that, things got a tad easier. Fiona thanked him for taking care of her little brother, Carl obsessed over his tattoos and juvie record, Liam called him Mickey Mouse, Mandy and Debbie became fast friends. It was all good and well until he felt Ian stiffen next to him.

“Sorry, that took longer than I expected.”

Mickey had seen enough pictures of Lip to know that he was looking at the oldest Gallagher brother. He quickly and discretely reached down and gave Ian’s knee a squeeze. The redhead smiled back at him reassuringly before standing up to greet his brother.

“Lip. You’re here.” Ian sounded stiff and it only made Mickey want to punch Lip harder.

“Yeah, man. I had to finish some homework up for school, but I couldn’t just pass up a free trip to California.” Lip tried.

The tension in the room was thick. Mickey turned to glare at Fiona, noting her guilty face. She’d said nothing about Lip coming and if he had known, he would have shot that down real quick.

Lip must have noticed the tension too. “Ian, you want to go outside for a second? Have a quick chat.”

“Maybe later.” Ian said indifferently as he sat back down in this seat. Mickey, who was unable to play it as cool as his boyfriend, smiled smugly at Lip’s taken aback face and reached down proudly to give Ian’s knee another squeeze.

\------------

Things were calm from there… until they weren’t.

\------------

“Mickey Milkovich, the reason my brother has stayed in California away from his family.” Lip drawled as he made his way over to Mickey later in the evening.

“Says one of the reasons he left Chicago in the first place.” Mickey shot back before taking a sip of his beer and staring at Lip unblinkingly.

“You don’t know me, asshole.”

“I know enough.” Mickey said simply, trying to control his temper.

Lip ignored him. “You don’t know my brother either. This whole thing is stupid.”

Mickey was officially pissed but before he could lay into Lip, Ian was by his side. “God damnit Lip, we’ve talked about all of this before. If you have such a problem with it, then why did you even come?”

“Forgive me for wanting to wanting to see my little brother?”

“You’ve barely talked to me since I’ve moved and now all of a sudden you want to see me?” Ian ran a hand through his hair. “As much as you like to think I am, I’m not stupid, Lip. You are only here to size up my life and my relationship with Mickey.”

Lip glared angrily at his little brother. “Ian, this isn’t healthy. You run away from your family, you meet some guy on the bus ride out here, you move in with him immediately and you just expect me to be happy with all of that? You should be doing so much more with your life than shacking up with some lowlife.”

Lip was cut off by a seething Ian.“He’s not a lowlife and even if he was, what would that make you and me? We are all from the same neighborhood, you elitist asshole.”

Mickey knew by this point that he should cut in. He grabbed a hold of Ian’s arm and gave it a squeeze. “Ian, it’s alright. We’re cool.”

Ian looked him in the eye and forced himself to relaxed. “Okay.” Ian turned back to his brother. “I’m happy, Lip. I’m so fucking happy and that should be all that matters to you. Stop taking whatever problems you have with your own life out on me.” He then grabbed a hold of Mickey’s hand and pulled him back to the festivities and to the Gallaghers Mickey didn’t want to kill.

\------------

“You planned me a surprise party.” Ian said later that night as he fucked Mickey slowly into their mattress.

Mickey was unable to do anything but loudly moan in return as Ian ran his hands all over his body and licked into his mouth.

“You planned me a surprise party and that is the sexiest fucking thing ever.” Ian panted and emphasized his point with deeper and harder thrusts into his boyfriend.

Mickey’s vision cut out for a second and then he saw stars. He soon gathered enough sense to arch his hips upward, meeting Ian thrust for thrust and causing both of them to groan at the feeling.

It didn’t take long for Ian to fall apart over him, eyes closed and head thrown back. The sight alone (plus Ian’s skilled hand around him) caused Mickey to follow quickly. Ian collapsed on top of him and stayed there, not pulling out and resting his head in the crook of Mickey’s neck.

Mickey relished in the feeling.

For a few minutes, the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing until Mickey heard Ian say something against him.   

“What’s that, mumbles?”

Ian lifted his head, cleared his throat, and looked deeply into Mickey’s eyes. “Thank you.”

Mickey looked away from Ian. “I answered a phone call, man. It’s not that big of a deal.”

Ian rolled off and away but dragged Mickey with him, effectively switching their positions. “You planned something with my sister, you picked out the restaurant, you kept it all a secret, you put up with my siblings.” Ian paused his list to pet a hand through Mickey’s hair. “That’s just what you did today.”

Mickey ignored the praise. “Don’t get used to it. This shit was exhausting.”

“I’m sorry about Lip.” Ian whispered.

“Don’t apologize for that asshole.” Mickey paused before deeply sighing. “He cares about you, Ian. He just has a shitty way of showing it.”

Ian reared back in playful shock. “Who are you and what have you done with Mickey Milkovich?”

“I’m trying to be serious here.” Mickey snapped.

Ian stayed quiet for a second as he started to run his fingers up and down Mickey’s spine. “I know, you’re right. It’s just easier to stay mad at him for now. We’ll be fine again someday.”

“You okay with that?” Mickey mumbled into Ian’s chest.

“I’m perfectly fine with everything and where I’m at right now, Mick.” Ian hauled Mickey up until their faces were lined up. “You make me so happy.” He emphasized every word with a kiss.

Mickey pulled away with a grin. “You’re such a fucking sap.” He looked down at his boyfriend as he ran his hand down the side of Ian’s face. “Happy birthday, loser.”

* * *

Sometimes Ian wanted romance. Tonight was one of those time. He had decided earlier that day that he wanted to something nice for Mickey. The brunette had been putting in long hours at construction sites lately and it was starting to take a toll on him.

So Ian took advantage of his day off and decided he was going to make Mickey dinner. He googled recipes; he went to the grocery store and spent more than necessary; he even bought some damn candles.

He was halfway through peeling the potatoes when he got a call. Assuming it was his boyfriend, Ian grinned as he answered the phone.

“Hey. Are you on your way home? I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Is this Ian Gallagher?” A strange voice asked. Ian froze in place and felt his blood run cold.

“Who is this?” he asked, his voice wavering. He had a bad feeling.

“Mr. Gallagher, my name is Nurse Reynolds. There was an incident involving Mickey-”

“What the hell do you mean incident? Is he okay? What happened? Where the fuck is he?” Ian barked out question after question as he regained movement and ran around the kitchen to turn off the oven and stove.

“He will most likely be fine. He fell off a scaffolding and they have him in surgery.” Nurse Reynolds told him, trying to be soothing but failing.

Mickey had fallen off a scaffolding. _Mickey_ had fallen off a scaffolding . Mickey had fallen off a _scaffolding_. Ian scrambled to find his keys and make his way out the door. “What do you mean most likely? What fucking hospital is he at?”

“Sharp Memorial.”

\------------

Ian felt like he was going to throw up as he rushed into the surgical ward and flung himself against the front desk.

“Milkovich. Mickey Milkovich.” He panted while trying to regain control of his voice and his senses.

“Are you family, sir?” The nurse asked, barely looking up at him from her computer.

“Of course I’m his fucking family.”

“May I ask how? We are only allowed to tell family or his foreman about Mr. Milkovich’s current condition.”

“He’s my goddamn boyfriend, now tell me where he is.” Ian barked, ready to lean over the desk and find out this information by himself. “Look mam, I work at this hospital. Just tell me where I can find him.”

The nurse raised an eyebrow at him before turning to punch something into the computer.

“Third floor.”

That was all Ian needed to hear before he raced off towards the elevator. When he finally reached the correct floor, he was inundated with construction workers.

“Mickey!” Jesse, one of Mickey’s coworkers, cried as he made his way over to Ian. “I’m so sorry I didn’t call you myself. I had to fill out some paperwork as a witness.”

“What the fuck happened?” Ian attempted to say in a steady voice. These people did not need to know just how _terrified_ he was.

“We were just doing some work and then all of a sudden the thing started to buckle. I was able to get off in time, but Mickey just went down.” He put his hand on Ian’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “He’s probably going to be fine.”

Ian shrugged the hand off of him and started to pace, ignoring everyone else in the room. There were guys everywhere and the mood was somber.

These people didn’t really know Mickey though. To them, construction worker Mickey Milkovich was in surgery and they would probably lose a good worker for a while.

To Ian, _Mickey_ , his Mickey, was in surgery and his whole world was upside down.

“Ian, why don’t you sit down?” Jesse suggested.

“Fuck off.”

With that, Ian continued to pace.

\------------

“Milkovich?”

Ian rushed over to the doctor, not caring if he looked desperate.

“Me. That’s me.”

“You must be Ian.” The doctor gave him a small smile which was the first thing in hours that made Ian feel a tad better. “Mickey’s fine and in recovery. We checked for internal bleeding but found none. The main issues were his arm and leg, which were both broken. We had to place pins in his leg and arm. He will most likely make a full recovery after some physical therapy. He also has a slight concussion, but we are monitoring that as well.” She paused and smiled again. “He’s a little out of it now, but you are welcome to come back and see him.”

Ian didn’t have to be told twice.

\------------

Ian did not rush to Mickey’s side the moment he saw him. Instead, he took a moment and just stared at him from the door. Mickey was laying in bed, dressed in a blue gown and his leg and arm propped up in slings and his face was covered in scrapes and bruises.

He grabbed a chair and dragged it close to Mickey’s side, running his hand through Mickey’s hair and down his face.

Of course Mickey would open his eyes the moment Ian has tears in his.

“Ian...” Mickey rasped out. “Are you really crying?”

Ian let out a laugh that sounded more like a sob before coughing to try and regain some composure. “Fuck you.”

“I just got hurt, Gallagher. You are supposed to be nice to me.” Mickey mumbled, his voice still dry.

Ian grabbed Mickey a glass of water and helped him drink it. “I can’t believe you actually fell off a scaffolding, asshole.”

“I didn’t fall, it buckled. It’s not like I did it on purpose.”

“I don’t know, Mick. You have been saying that you could use a vacation.”

Mickey let out a soft laugh. “I think there are easier ways to go about that.” He brought his hand up to tangle his fingers together with Ian’s. “I’m sorry.”

“What the fuck are you apologizing for?”

“Scaring you.”

“Damn you must be on some good drugs.” Ian paused. “I wasn’t scared.” He had been more than that, but Mickey didn’t need to know.

Mickey smirked at him like he knew the truth anyway.

Ian leaned forward to softly kiss the injured man.

“I love you.” He whispered against Mickey’s lips. They didn’t say the words often, but he figured now was as good of time as any.

“Love you too.” Mickey mumbled back before that damn smirk made its way back on to his face. “You going to take good care of me, nurse Ian? Going to check my vitals in that sexy ass uniform of yours?”

* * *

Mickey’s favorite type of days were the ones where he knew he didn’t have anything planned. The days where he didn’t have to listen to the sounds of cranes or dump trucks; the days where he didn’t have to lift a hammer or mix concrete; the days where he was able to lay in bed as long as he wanted and do whatever the hell he wanted.

When these special days coincided with Ian’s day off, everything was just one hundred times better.

\------------

It was a Sunday morning when Mickey woke up to the feeling of an empty spot in bed next to him. He sat up sleepily and listened carefully, hoping to place his boyfriend’s current location in their apartment and succeeding when he heard pans clanging from the kitchen. Mickey stumbled out of their bedroom, following the noise, and was met by the sight of Ian standing at the stove, flipping pancakes and singing.

The redhead spotted him over his shoulder and beamed at his sleepy partner. “Good morning! I thought I’d make us a grand breakfast. I’m talking the works. Bacon, eggs, pancakes. If you had stayed in bed a little longer, I probably would have brought it to you.”

Mickey shuffled out of the doorway and made his way over to Ian, wrapping his arms around his waist and snuggling into the taller man’s back.

He felt Ian lean back into him and chuckle. “Someone is cuddly this morning.”

“Someone is fucking chipper this morning.” Mickey murmured into the fabric of Ian’s shirt.

Ian gently extracted himself from Mickey’s arms and nudged him towards the kitchen table. “Go sit.”

“You going to tell me what’s got you in such a good mood?”

“I was cleaning this morning-” Ian started to say as he arranged their meal on plates.

Mickey grunted. “Of course you were.”

Ian ignored him and brought the food over to the table. “I was cleaning this morning and I found something exciting stashed away in a drawer.”

“What?” Mickey asked, already stuffing bacon into his mouth.

“Guess.”

It was too early for this shit. “Ian.”

His boyfriend huffed at him. “Fine. Be boring.” Ian pulled something off the counter and passed it across the table to Mickey.

He picked it up and stared at it, laughing. “This is your bus ticket from the Greyhound. Why the hell do you still have this?”

“Notice anything special about the date?”

Mickey looked at the top left corner. “It’s today’s date.”

“I know.” Ian rolled his eyes when he noticed Mickey obviously not catching on to the exciting development. “Mickey, it’s our anniversary!

Oh. Everything finally clicked for Mickey. “Oh… wow.” He said in wonder.

“I know.” Ian replied, taking on the same tone as his partner. “Our three year anniversary… can you believe it?”

Mickey’s eyes were still glued to the ticket. “Wow.”

“I mean I know how long we’ve been together but to sit here and actually think about it.”

“Yeah.” Mickey said, staring at the ticket for a tad longer before putting it down and looking up at Ian. “Happy anniversary, I guess.” He added a little sheepishly.

Ian’s eyes sparkled as he reached over and grabbed Mickey’s hand, returning the sentiment. “We should do something special today.”

“Nah, I’m good to just hang out around here.”

“Really? You just want to hang around here all day?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure we can figure out some stuff for us to do.” Mickey wiggled his eyebrows at his boyfriend. “We have to consummate the day anyway. We are a little late.”

Ian threw his head back in laughter. “It’s very likely we’ve fucked on this day before. We practically have sex every day.”

“Good point.” Mickey conceded. “Let’s just stay in all day. Finish breakfast, fuck, shower, fuck, relax in bed, fuck, eat some lunch, fuck, play video games, fuck, I’ll make us a special dinner if you want, and then we can fuck again… and again. That sounds like the best fucking anniversary if you ask me.”

“So I gather you want to fuck around with me today?” Ian sassed as he got out of his seat and made his way over to Mickey, tipping the smaller man’s head back so he would look up at him. He leaned down and planted a soft, sweet kiss on Mickey, who immediately reciprocated.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” Ian ask softly, staring down at Mickey tenderly.

Mickey looked up into Ian’s large green eyes with the same tender look and grinned.

“Yeah, man. I’ve got all I need right here.”

\------------

Forever to go.

**Author's Note:**

> ryansoreily.tumblr.com


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